The Izmailovsky District Court of Moscow has sentenced the defendants in the Antifa United case: 26-year-old Bogdan Yakimenko, 19-year-old Roman Chizhikov, and 24-year-old Ilya Popov. This information was reported by SOTAvision directly from the courtroom. The court found all three guilty under articles related to organizing an extremist community and hooliganism. Yakimenko received nine years in a penal colony, Chizhikov received three and a half years, and Popov, who cooperated with the investigation, was sentenced to two and a half years. Proceedings against the fourth defendant, Matvey Ostrovsky, were terminated due to his death in 2025.
According to the position of law enforcement agencies, the accused used the Antifa United community on social networks to recruit individuals, including minors, and to plan hate crimes targeting law enforcement officers. The publication "Ostorozhno, novosti" reports that the defendants attacked those they considered far-right activists with airsoft guns and aerosol canisters. After his detention, Bogdan Yakimenko, whom the investigation considers the group's leader, was tortured with a stun gun.
As noted by "Antifa ru," Antifa United was initially a clothing brand aimed at popularizing anti-fascist ideas among youth. It is likely that this brand's social media pages were interpreted by law enforcement as an extremist community.