A Moscow court has sentenced Tikhon Dzyadko, editor-in-chief of Dozhd TV, to eight years in prison in absentia on charges of spreading “fake” information about the Russian army.
The Golovinsky District Court of Moscow delivered the verdict on May 12. Russian authorities claimed Dzyadko’s social media posts about civilian killings in the Ukrainian cities of Bucha and Irpen contained false information about the military.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court fined Dzyadko 250,000 rubles and banned him from administering websites for four years.
Prosecutors had also accused the journalist of violating Russia’s “foreign agents” legislation and requested an eight-year sentence alongside a 5.9 million ruble fine.
Russian authorities declared Dzyadko wanted in April 2025, while a court ordered his pretrial detention in absentia later that year.
Since 2022, the journalist has been listed as a “foreign agent” in Russia. In 2025, he was also added to the country’s list of “terrorists and extremists.”
Following the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Russian authorities declared Dozhd TV an “undesirable organization.” Several journalists linked to the broadcaster, including Ekaterina Kotrikadze, were also labeled “foreign agents.”
The channel stopped broadcasting from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. It later obtained broadcasting licenses in Latvia and then the Netherlands after Latvian authorities revoked its initial license.
Russia introduced criminal penalties for spreading what authorities describe as “false information” about the army in March 2022, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine. Punishments under the law range from fines to prison sentences of up to 15 years.
