Aleksey Seregin, a journalist covering local issues in Russia’s west-central Mari El Republic, has been detained since June 4, 2026, on charges of “justifying terrorism.” He faces up to seven years in jail under Part 2, Article 205.2 of Russia’s criminal code.
In early August 2026, a second criminal case was opened against Seregin for failure to comply with “foreign agent” requirements.
Russian authorities require people designated as “foreign agents” to include a specific disclaimer on their publications. The Russian Ministry of Justice designated Seregin a “foreign agent” in November 2024.
A source familiar with the investigation, who spoke anonymously to independent regional media outlet 7×7, said this second case against Seregin stemmed from a social media post that was not labelled as originating from a “foreign agent.”
Since 2017, Seregin has been running the Telegram channel, Nothing Will Happen in Mari El, which has over 860 subscribers and covers local issues, including trials, corruption, human rights, and the environment, as well as updates about local residents who have died in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Seregin previously worked with multiple regional media outlets.
Law enforcement officers in Yoshkar-Ola, the capital of Mari El, detained Seregin in June after beating him, confiscating his phone, and searching his home. They took him for questioning to the local branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee, the law enforcement agency in charge of pretrial investigations.
On June 5, a court in Yoshkar-Ola placed him in a pretrial detention center. In a letter sent from the detention center in August and published on Telegram by Anton Sokolov, a former member of the Yoshkar-Ola city assembly, Seregin said his detention had been extended until November 4, 2026.
In July, Seregin was fined 2,000 rubles (US$25) for allegedly resisting police under Article 19.3 of Russia’s Code of Administrative Offenses. Seregin denied the allegation, adding in his letter that “the judge rejected eight motions I filed that could have exposed the officers’ false statements.”
A source close to the investigation told 7x7 that Seregin had said police officers tortured him with electric shocks at a police station after his detention in an attempt to force him to unlock his phone.
Seregin has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Mari El and this is scheduled to be heard on August 25, 2026.
According to 7×7, Seregin is being prosecuted for “justifying terrorism” because of a 2024 comment in a Telegram chat about former Soviet air force general Dzhokhar Dudayev, who led the Chechen independence movement in the 1990s and was killed in 1996. The authorities claimed the comment “justified illegal armed groups in Chechnya in the 1990s.”
A source familiar with Seregin’s case told CPJ, on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, that his detention is retaliation for his journalism.
Over recent years, Seregin has repeatedly faced repression for his journalism and civic activities. In September 2025, he was fined 30,000 rubles (US$380) for failing to list his designation.
In his August letter, Seregin said he was sent for a preliminary psychiatric evaluation at a hospital in Yoshkar-Ola following his detention. He said doctors questioned his mental competence after he told them about the alleged torture.
He also said his health had deteriorated. He reported “speech impairment, zero coordination and attention problems, and stupor” and said a change in his treatment by a doctor at the detention center did not improve his condition and that his subsequent complaints were ignored.
“They refused to hospitalize me,” he wrote.
On August 15, Seregin was reportedly transferred from Yoshkar-Ola to Moscow for psychiatric evaluation at the V.P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology, according to 7x7.
CPJ’s request for comment from Russia’s Investigative Committee’s branch in Mari El in early June went unanswered.