Russia: Man sentenced to an additional 13.5 years in prison for 'treason' following Qur’an burning incident

Image: Jihad Watch

A young Russian man, previously imprisoned in Chechnya for burning the Quran, has been handed an additional 13 years and six months in prison on charges of treason, according to Russian media reports on Monday, citing court documents.

Nikita Zhuravel, 20, was accused last month of sharing videos of Russian military equipment and aircraft with Ukraine's SBU security service in March 2023.

Earlier in February, a Chechen court sentenced Zhuravel to three and a half years for offending religious believers by burning the Quran in the Volgograd region of southern Russia.

Zhuravel accused Adam Kadyrov, the 15-year-old son of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, of beating him in pre-trial detention in August 2023. Kadyrov later posted a video of the assault, which law enforcement chose not to investigate.

Following the highly publicized incident, multiple regional authorities honored the younger Kadyrov with state awards.

On Monday, the Volgograd Regional Court convicted Zhuravel of “high treason,” sentencing him to another 13 years and six months in a maximum-security prison, as reported by the v1.ru news website.

With the new sentence, Zhuravel will now serve a total of 14 years in prison on the combined charges, prosecutors stated on Monday.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)