Social media users called the sentence for Gevorg Grigoryan excessively harsh.
The court unjustly sentenced native of Armenia Gevorg Grigoryan to nine and a half years in prison. Such a sentence for fakes about the army, rehabilitation of Nazism, and calls for terrorism is excessively harsh. Apparently, Grigoryan was merely expressing his personal opinion online, believe social media users.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on October 20, the Second Eastern District Military Court sentenced 23-year-old native of Armenia Gevorg Grigoryan to nine and a half years in prison for comments on social media. He was tried on charges of spreading fakes about the army, rehabilitation of Nazism, calls for terrorism, and extremism.
Gevorg Grigoryan lived in the Trans-Baikal Territory and holds citizenship of Russia and Armenia. He was detained in June 2025 and placed under house arrest. Initially, he was charged with rehabilitation of Nazism and incitement of hatred, but later the charges were expanded. According to a friend of Grigoryan, the man wrote comments on Armenian resources because he "was upset that Moscow did not help his homeland in the war for Karabakh." Later, he agreed with the charges and "repented of his words."
Commentators considered Grigoryan's statements an expression of his own opinion
A post about the sentence for Gevorg Grigoryan was published on the "Caucasian Knot" Facebook page on October 30, which has about 164 thousand followers. As of 13:40 Moscow time on November 2, this post received 504 reactions and 669 comments.
Some commentators considered the sentence excessively harsh. "For killing a person in Russia, they don't give that much," wrote Elina Vladimirovna Savini.
"It's ridiculous! Nine years for a text message. Even for murder, they don't give that much. They've completely lost their minds. They should rather close TikTok, Facebook*, Instagram*, etc. – then there wouldn't be so much hatred towards each other," believes Tina Atanyan.
"Nine years? Absurd," exclaimed Sara Sergeevna.
Other participants in the discussion defended freedom of speech. "I thought you could freely express your opinion in Russia, where is democracy? Or is this a new North Korea? I can't understand, is there no freedom of speech?" wrote Mko Amiraghyan.
"The free speech of a citizen comes first," emphasized Edmon Avagyan.
"If we judge for comments, we will have to judge the whole world. There is no law to judge for freedom of speech," stated a user with the nickname Nature Lover.
Some users supported the sentence, while some participants in the discussion called for even harsher punishment. "Bravo, they did the right thing," wrote Meri Konditer Meri.
"They did the right thing. Everyone should be treated like that. They live in Russia and criticize it," stated Greta Akentyeva.
"These [vividly expressive individuals] who live in Russia and write nasty things about Russia should be sentenced to life," declared Vito Antonyan.
Courts in the southern regions of Russia have repeatedly issued harsh sentences for posts on social media
For instance, in May of this year, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced a native of Uzbekistan, Ruslan Useinov, to six and a half years in prison for three comments in a messenger. According to the investigation, in February, March, and May 2025, he called for missile strikes on Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. Useinov was tried under the article on public propaganda or justification of terrorism via the internet. He admitted guilt, and the court sentenced him to serve his sentence in a general regime colony.
Valery Kotovich, a native of Ukraine who received Russian citizenship in 2014 and served in the National Guard, was sentenced on May 2, 2023, by a court in Rostov-on-Don to six years in prison for spreading false information about the army. The reason was his statements about the actions of Russian military personnel in Ukraine during conversations with colleagues. The head of the material and technical support center of the National Guard and his deputy testified in court that subordinates reported to them about Kotovich's disapproving remarks, but they themselves had not heard them. Kotovich did not admit guilt. In addition to imprisonment, the court stripped him of his colonel rank and prohibited him from holding certain positions for three years.
37-year-old Timur Agrbu, a resident of Abkhazia and a native of Sochi, was sentenced by the Southern District Military Court on March 17 of this year to five and a half years in prison for ten publications in a Telegram channel. He posted them in the fall of 2024 while in the Gudauta district of Abkhazia. According to the prosecution, the publications created heroic images of Shamil Basayev and other Chechen field commanders. The court found Agrbu guilty of public justification and propaganda of terrorism and sentenced him to serve his sentence in a general regime colony.
Lawyer Victoria Novikova challenged the validity of the sentence on March 24. According to her, most of the publications concerned Basayev's participation in the war in Abkhazia, where he was officially awarded the title of hero, and his actions in Russia were mentioned only in one post. The defense presented confirmation of this status from the Abkhaz authorities and insisted on excluding the relevant publications from the charges. "However, the court ignored these arguments," Novikova stated.