Court toughens punishment for Boris Akunin

The appellate instance of the Tagansky Court of Moscow has toughened the preventive measure for Grigory Chkhartishvili, known by the literary pseudonym Boris Akunin, in absentia. The writer has been recognized as a foreign agent and included in the register of terrorists and extremists. At the prosecutor«s request, the general regime colony was replaced with a strict regime institution.

In other aspects, the sentence handed down by the justice of the peace in December remained unchanged. At that time, Chkhartishvili was finally sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in a colony. The term will start from the moment of his actual detention on Russian territory or extradition.

In July 2025, Akunin-Chkhartishvili was found guilty of facilitating terrorist activity and publicly justifying terrorism, receiving 14 years of imprisonment. In December, one more year was added to this term for evading obligations, a fine of 200,000 rubles (approximately $2,000 at current rates) was imposed, and he was banned from administering websites and channels for six years.