A funny post about Putin resulted in six years in a penal colony: details

Leonid Melekhin, a resident of Perm deported from the US in 2025, has been sentenced to six years in a penal colony for a post in a Telegram channel where Russian President Vladimir Putin was depicted on a gallows. The court found him guilty of justifying terrorism on two counts.

The Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg sentenced Leonid Melekhin, a resident of Perm, to six years in a penal colony for a publication on Telegram. The reason was a post in the channel of Perm activist Yuri Bobrov, "Bobr. There and Back (Immigration Diary)," containing two photographs: one showed Melekhin standing on the border of Mexico and the United States, and the other showed a poster depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and a mannequin on a rope. The poster contained the inscriptions "murderer," "fascist," and "usurper" with a call to hang him. The court found Melekhin guilty of justifying terrorism on two counts; the second count is related to an online comment, the content of which has not been disclosed. The trial was held behind closed doors at the request of prosecutor Maria Otradnova, who cited an increased terrorist threat. Melekhin entered the US through the Mexican border in 2024 and applied for asylum, but was denied and deported in July 2025. According to Mediazona, he is at least the second known Russian arrested in the Russian Federation after deportation from the US.