Kathrine Frich
In 15 separate cases, judges handed down permanent life sentences.
When the wheels of a justice system suddenly speed up, the impact ripples through countless lives.
Across Russia, courts are handing down severe sentences at a pace observers have not witnessed in decades.
The sweeping charges are catching more people than ever.
Record numbers
In 2025, Russian judges found 2,078 people guilty of terrorism under various articles of the national criminal code. This marks a massive leap from the previous year.
In 2024, courts convicted 1,021 individuals on the exact same charges according to LV. The new total represents the highest number of terrorism convictions since the current legal framework took effect back in 1996.
The numbers do not come from the government. First Division, a prominent human rights organisation, worked closely with researchers from Parubets Analytics to calculate the true scale of the crackdown.
Tracking the facts
Pulling these figures together proved to be a difficult challenge. The Justice Department of the Supreme Court quietly decided not to release any official statistics for the year 2025.
To bypass the silence, First Division built their own database using open sources. The team spent months scanning court dockets, official press releases, and local news reports to track the outcomes.
Their final tally recorded at least 1,776 specific verdicts issued throughout the year. The courts most frequently accused people of inciting, justifying, or spreading terrorism. That broad category alone snagged 889 individuals.
Trapped in the system
The sweeping legal campaign has heavily targeted foreigners. The data shows that at least 630 of the newly convicted people hold Ukrainian citizenship.
This group is not just made up of soldiers. It includes both captured prisoners of war and ordinary civilians caught in the legal dragnet.
Other watchdogs agree that the courts are punishing political opponents. Representatives from the human rights group Memorial examined the data. They found clear signs of political persecution in 929 cases, representing 45 percent of the total.
Harsh reality
Legal experts and researchers point out that Russian authorities now treat these terrorism charges with the same severity as high treason. The punishments leave almost no room for leniency.
More than half of the individuals whose sentences are publicly known will spend between 15 years and the rest of their lives inside a prison cell.
In 15 separate cases, judges handed down permanent life sentences. The system is also prosecuting children. The youngest convicted individual is only 14 years old.
Sources: LV, LETA
