A programmer and member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation from Belgoveshchensk was sentenced to nine years in prison for transferring 700 rubles to a friend.
The Second Western District Military Court found Denis Vashchuk guilty of financing terrorism. This was reported by a member of the Human Rights Council, Eva Marcheva.
According to the sentence, he must spend the first three years in prison. He was also fined 400 thousand rubles.
According to the investigators, Vashchuk sent 700 rubles to his friend Maxim, with whom he lived in Moscow. He was allegedly going to leave for Ukraine and join the banned organization in Russia, according to him, and that Shuk knew about it.
Initially, Maxim, who left for the Bryansk region, asked Shachuk for three thousand rubles for the trip to Ukraine, but he refused to transfer the money. After some time, the Muscovite's mother called Vashchuk and asked him to help her son return to Moscow. Then the man handed him 700 rubles.
Vashchuk's lawyer, Yevgeny Belizniuk, claims that the case file contains correspondence confirming that his client refused to transfer money for a trip to Ukraine.
Maxim was diagnosed with schizophrenia. After speaking with Vashchuk, he actually returned to Moscow, where he was arrested on charges of attempting to join banned organizations. And Shchuk was questioned in the case as a witness, but was released. Maxim was declared insane and sent to compulsory treatment.
In December 2025, Vashchuk was arrested. Initially he was accused of petty hooliganism and placed under administrative detention, and in January 2026 a criminal case was opened. The court discussed the case in two sessions, the man pleaded not guilty.