Konstantinov Artyom Yurevich

In Murmansk, no later than March 2023, a criminal case of treason was opened against a 23-year-old local resident, a student of MSTU Artem Konstantinov. Back in early October 2022, the student reported the persecution by security forces to human rights defenders - at that time, the student told OVD-Info that FSB officers had been threatening to open a criminal case against him for several months due to communication with a friend from Ukraine. Security forces are also trying to persuade the young man to cooperate. Konstantinov said that security forces detained him on June 3, 2022, when he came to the university to take an exam. A bag was put on the young man's head and he was put in a minivan. In the car, they forced him to unlock his phone, made him kneel, and began striking him on the head, demanding that he confess to working for the SBU. Two hours later, an illegal search was conducted in his apartment, formally called an "inspection of the premises." 3. From Konstantinov, certificates, a laptop, a phone, flash drives, bank cards, and the book "Auschwitz" were confiscated. about the Nazis and the 'final solution to the Jewish question,' as well as issued an 'official warning' about the inadmissibility of treason. After the search, the young man was detained and taken for interrogation at the FSB. Security forces asked Konstantin about correspondence with his comrade from Ukraine, Nikolai. In the following weeks, they continued to summon Konstantinov for "informal conversations. During three months, security forces threatened a student with a criminal case for calls to separatism due to several YouTube videos, as well as cases for repeated discrediting of the Russian army and extremism. Rights activists reported in March 2023 that Artem Konstantinov had disappeared. Later, it became known about a criminal case of treason against him. According to law enforcement, the Murmansk resident in the period of 2022-2023 sent an audio message to the SBU that compromised the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which was subsequently published on the Internet, as well as photocopies of documents, including those on the activities of the military commissariat of the Murmansk region. During the investigation, the young man was placed in a pre-trial detention center. On October 1, 2024, the Murmansk Regional Court found Artyom Konstantinov guilty and sentenced him to 13 years of imprisonment in a strict regime correctional colony with a restriction of freedom for a period of 1 year. On December 9, 2024, the Second Appellate Court of General Jurisdiction left the verdict unchanged.