A Stavropol resident was convicted of justifying terrorism.

A military court sentenced an 18-year-old Stavropol resident, finding him guilty of justifying terrorism. The young man pleaded guilty.

The case of the 18-year-old Stavropol resident was heard by the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don.

According to the prosecution, the young man held "radical extremist views" and published eight videos on a Telegram channel. Law enforcement officials found calls for terrorist activity in these videos.

According to the Stavropol Prosecutor's Office, the videos contained "a positive assessment of the actions of an illegal group." The agency did not specify which group was involved.

“During the investigation, the defendant admitted his guilt in full and expressed remorse for his actions,” the regional Investigative Committee reported on March 10.

The court sentenced the young man to 3.5 years in a general regime penal colony with a ban on administering websites, forums, chats, and groups for two years after his release. The charge of publicly calling for terrorist activity via the internet (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code) carries a sentence of five to seven years in prison.

The publications that formed the basis of the charges were made between November 2023 and January 2024, when the young man, 18 years old at the time of the sentence, would have been a minor. Caucasian Knot was unable to find his case file on the court's website. Caucasian Knot also reported that the 37-year-old Mikhailovsk resident was accused of financing extremist activity due to a money transfer made in August 2021.