74-year-old E. Khasanov, an Uzbek citizen residing in Samarkand, was sentenced to 3 years of restricted freedom, including a mandatory curfew, a ban on changing his place of residence without permission, and restrictions prohibiting him from leaving Samarkand region. Khasanov has also been banned from using the internet.

Citing the case materials, Gazeta.uz and Kun.uz reported that as a member of a Telegram group titled “Uzbek SSR/USSR” Khasanov posted that “the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan is superficial, that the former Soviet Union has not officially disintegrated yet, that 15 republics that were part of it arbitrarily declared their independence with the help of the United States, and that the former Soviet republics will soon return and become part of the USSR.

They arrested some random old guy for being apart of some niche telegram group with 12 members. Very sad 😢

It’s worth noting that in March 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that it had “prevented new attempts by the Russian special services to destabilize the socio-political situation in Ukraine” by neutralizing “underground cells” belonging to the “Communist Party of the Soviet Union.” The Security Service said these groups had attempted “to create an extensive network” of committees throughout Ukraine, targeting “former and active soldiers who started their service during the Soviet Union” to form these cells. The Ukrainian authorities named Shchipkov’s group – the “Central Committee of the Bolsheviks” – as being behind efforts to set up branches of the committee across Ukraine and noted that Telegram was used to distribute instructions.

This is… interesting 🤔