The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced 21-year-old administrator of the Melitopol city Telegram channel «Melitopol is Ukraine» Yana Suvorova to 14 years in prison, reported «Mediazona»*. She was found guilty of «committing a terrorist act with significant damage as part of a group», «espionage», «participation in a terrorist community».
Suvorova was detained on August 20, 2023, along with several other journalists and bloggers whom Russian security forces linked to local Telegram channels and chats — «Melitopol is Ukraine», «RIA-Melitopol», and «Gachi-corner».
According to the FSB, the network of pro-Ukrainian media served «to gather intelligence information and exert psychological influence on the region's residents». Later, they were charged with «terrorist acts» and «participation in a terrorist community».
Suvorova and her colleagues were accused, in particular, of directing HIMARS at the Melitopol college building on 50th Anniversary of Victory Avenue, where the Rosgvardia and FSB offices for the Zaporizhzhia region were located.
According to «Reporters Without Borders»**, Yana Suvorova was initially held in occupied Mariupol and then transferred to Taganrog in SIZO-2, which is considered one of the most notorious torture prisons in Russia.
In early September, 15 years of imprisonment in a high-security prison and colony were assigned to another admin of «Melitopol is Ukraine» — 27-year-old Vladislav Gershon, and 16 years in a high-security colony were assigned to the admin of «RIA-Melitopol» Georgiy Levchenko. The kidnapped journalist from Melitopol, Anastasia Glukhovskaya, was found by the investigative project "Slidstvo.Info" in a pre-trial detention center in the Perm region. For more than two years, Russia has illegally held her in custody without official charges and without acknowledging the fact of her detention.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».
** Recognized in Russia as an «undesirable» organization.