Officers from Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the SOBR special police unit detained a 53-year-old Volgograd resident on charges of repeatedly discrediting the Russian army (Article 280.3 of Russia's Criminal Code). According to V1, the detainee is lawyer and former Volgograd State University (VolSU) lecturer Roman Melnichenko.
Source: Roman Melnichenko's archive
The criminal case stems from a social media post published in September 2025. During a search of Melnichenko's home, officers seized computers, mobile phones, a webcam, and microphones. No pretrial restrictions have been imposed on him so far.
In 2022, police drew up administrative reports against Melnichenko for being outside without a passport during a state of emergency and for abusing freedom of the mass media. Before those cases were even resolved, he was dismissed from the VolSU law faculty over his anti-war posts. Melnichenko's parents lived in Ukraine.
In 2024, presenters on the Volgograd 1 TV channel published the personal information of local residents who had commemorated Alexei Navalny. Melnichenko was among them. He unsuccessfully tried to hold the propagandists accountable. Later that year, he was fined under the army discreditation law for appearing on TV Rain. He also reported receiving threats from unknown individuals.
