Man from Tyumen jailed for 8 years for leaving $3.50 worth of Stars under banned Telegram posts
The Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg has sentenced a Tyumen resident to eight years in a maximum-security penal colony over paid reactions (“Stars”) that he left under posts on Telegram channels. As Mediazona reports , 57-year-old Mikhail Antonovich was found guilty of financing terrorism (Article 205.1, Part 1.1 of the Russian Criminal Code), which carries a sentence of 8 to 15…
A Tyumen resident has been sentenced to eight years in a maximum-security penal colony for leaving $3.50 worth of Telegram Stars under posts on banned Telegram channels. The Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg found 57-year-old Mikhail Antonovich guilty of financing terrorism (Article 205.1, Part 1.1 of the Russian Criminal Code) and sentenced him to 8 to 15 years.
This is the first known conviction involving the use of Telegram Stars, although other cases have been opened over this issue in the past. The case file indicates that Antonovich, who was detained in December 2025, left Stars under posts on channels NEVZOROV, BEREZOVIEW, WAR IN UKRAINE, Nakipelo Michael Nacke, and Sasha Shpak Official.
Investigators counted 130 Stars with a total value of 292.99 rubles ($3.50) and determined that these channels were involved in propagating terrorism and supporting terrorist organizations such as the Freedom of Russia Legion, the Russian Volunteer Corps, and the Azov Brigade. Memorial Human Rights Group has called on Telegram founder Pavel Durov to make paid reactions anonymous and take other measures to protect users from persecution by the Russian state.
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