How the Court Punished a TikTok User for Pro-Russian Videos and 'Slandering' the Authorities – Case Materials
The Kagarlyk District Court sentenced a suspended sentence for repeated justification of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
Case circumstances No. 368/315/26
The accused, having direct intent to publicly express his views to an unlimited circle of persons, using a mobile phone and Internet access, through a personal account on the social network TikTok, distributed video materials containing statements justifying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which began in 2014.
In particular, on October 21, 2025, the accused published a video lasting 15 minutes 56 seconds, in which he criticized the President.
On October 24, 2025, a video lasting 5 minutes 50 seconds was published, in which the accused continued to express similar views.
On November 22, 2025, a new video lasting 19 minutes 46 seconds was published.
On November 25, 2025, a video lasting 9 minutes 41 seconds was published, in which the accused continued to spread materials justifying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, criticizing the President of Ukraine and his entourage.
The forensic linguistic (semantic-textual) examination confirmed that the distributed materials are public in nature, aimed at shaping a certain public opinion, and contain justification of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
In the court session, the accused fully admitted his guilt and sincerely repented.
What the court decided
The Kagarlyk District Court of Kyiv region found the accused guilty of committing criminal offenses under part two of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (justification of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine) and part three of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (the same offense committed repeatedly).
The court imposed the following penalties: under part two of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — 1 year of imprisonment; under part three of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — 5 years of imprisonment. Based on Article 70 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, by absorbing the less severe punishment with the more severe one, the final sentence was 5 years of imprisonment.
Based on Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the accused was released from serving the sentence with probation for a period of 2 years with the imposition of duties provided for in paragraphs 1, 2 of part one and paragraph 2 of part three of Article 76 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The court did not impose additional punishment in the form of property confiscation due to the absence of a mercenary motive. Procedural costs for conducting the examination were recovered from the accused.
The verdict may be appealed to the Kyiv Court of Appeal within thirty days from the date of its announcement.
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