Russian Court Sentences DOXA Co-Founder Aramyan to Over 10 Years in Absentia for Justifying Terrorism

A Russian military court on Thursday sentenced Armen Aramyan, the exiled co-founder of the independent youth magazine DOXA, to 10 years and one month in absentia due to violations of wartime censorship laws.

The court convicted Aramyan of justifying terrorism and disseminating «intentionally misleading information» about the Russian military, as stated by the Moscow prosecutor’s office.

Prosecutors alleged that Aramyan had posted a «false» map depicting Ukrainian civilian casualties during Russia’s occupation of Bucha and had written an editorial advocating violent resistance against the Russian authorities, according to the independent news outlet Mediazona.

Furthermore, the judge prohibited Aramyan from managing websites for four years. Prosecutors had initially requested a sentence of 12 years and one month.

Currently residing in Europe, Aramyan expressed to The Moscow Times that he hoped the sentencing would not result in actual imprisonment.

«There’s always the possibility that I could pass through a country that chooses to extradite me back to Russia, and that’s a risk I have to live with,» he stated in a written response.

«However, there are others who are in far worse situations—those who are enduring these outrageous sentences,» Aramyan said, encouraging supporters to contribute to organizations that assist political prisoners in Russia.

Last year, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office labeled DOXA as an “undesirable” organization, rendering any association with the publication a criminal offense.

In October, Russia’s financial authorities included Aramyan in their list of “terrorists and extremists,” effectively freezing his bank accounts.

Aramyan fled to Armenia and later to Germany after he and fellow DOXA editors were sentenced to two years of corrective labor in April 2022 for allegedly inciting minors to protest in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in 2021.

Founded in 2017, DOXA ceased to have official student organization status in 2019 after Moscow’s Higher School of Economics intensified its crackdown on political activism following the opposition protests that year.

Reporting contributed by Mack Tubridy.