Chelyabinsk Court Convicts Men for Tearing Passport in Video
In Chelyabinsk, two young men aged 20 and 22 were sentenced to seven months of forced labor for tearing a Russian passport in a video. 10% of their income will be deducted for the state budget. This was reported on February 2 by Natalya Mamayeva, senior assistant to the regional prosecutor.
The court found that the incident occurred in October 2025 in a nightclub. While intoxicated, the men tore the document and threw it in a trash bin, filming their actions and later posting the video online.
«After studying the verdict, the prosecutor»s office will assess its legality,« clarified Natalya Mamayeva. »Additionally, the prosecutor instructed the court to send a copy of the effective verdict to the migration service to decide on revoking one of the convicted«s Russian citizenship due to committing a crime against state symbols of the Russian Federation.»
One of the convicted is a native of Kazakhstan and recently obtained Russian citizenship.
For desecration of state symbols under Article 329 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the following punishments are provided:
- restriction of freedom for up to one year;
- forced labor for the same term;
- arrest from three to six months;
- deprivation of freedom for up to one year.
The video of the passport tearing was published on Yekaterina Mizulina«s Telegram channel. Soon after publication, the blogger was detained. The young men themselves later recorded an apology video.
