A judge in Moscow sentenced manosphere blogger Arsen Markaryan to 4.5 years in prison on Thursday after he was found guilty of “rehabilitating” nazism.
Markaryan, 30, is known for his controversial views on gender roles and masculinity, drawing comparisons to the self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate. He was arrested last August in the Moscow region hours after pro-Kremlin censorship activist Yekaterina Mizulina vowed to turn him in to the authorities.
Mizulina accused Markaryan of saying “disgusting things” about women, as well as Russian soldiers fighting in the war against Ukraine and “their mothers and wives.” She also claimed he praised Ukraine’s military and called for the bombing of Moscow.
Law enforcement authorities said Markaryan posted a video online last year that allegedly disparages Soviet World War II soldier Alexander Matrosov, who sacrificed his own life to allow his unit to advance on the battlefield.
On Thursday, a judge from the Moscow City Court found Markaryan guilty of “rehabilitating” nazism and sentenced him to four years and six months in a penal colony. He was also slapped with a four-year ban on running websites.
State prosecutors had requested a prison sentence of six years and 10 months for Markaryan, who pleaded guilty to the charges against him, the court’s press service said in a statement.
“I once again want to offer my apologies. I cannot describe how ashamed I am. I understand why I spent half a year in a detention cell,” Markaryan said in his final statement before the verdict was announced.
“There are sacred things for people, and this memory is one of them,” he added.
In November, a judge in St. Petersburg fined Markaryan 15,000 rubles ($190) for promoting drug use in a video where he described taking psychotropic substances.
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