Russian man convicted for displaying symbols of ‘International Satanism Movement,’ a group that does not exist
A court in Voronezh has sentenced a 24-year-old local resident to one year of corrective labor for displaying prohibited symbols of the International Satanism Movement, designated an extremist organization by Russian authorities, the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reported.
The criminal case stemmed from two images posted on VK: a photograph of Adolf Hitler and a selfie of the defendant wearing a hat and hoodie bearing a pentagram. Investigators concluded that the selfie constituted a display of symbols belonging to the nonexistent International Satanism Movement.
Court records show the defendant is an orphan who worked as a gas-electric welder at a reinforced concrete structures plant. Acquaintances and neighbors who testified described him as a “skinhead” and an “open Satanist.” The case was opened after an officer from the regional Interior Ministry’s Center for Combating Extremism filed a report specifically targeting the “satanic” symbols.
The Voronezh case is the first known criminal conviction involving prohibited symbols in which Satanism is mentioned, Mediazona reported. Previously, courts had handed down administrative fines to residents of Russia for “satanic” symbols.
Mediazona
Under Russian law, a criminal case for displaying prohibited symbols may be opened against a person who has already received a final ruling under the equivalent administrative offense provision. Whether the Voronezh resident had previously been cited under that provision was not specified.
The criminal charge carries a sentence of up to four years in prison.
Russia’s Supreme Court designated the International Satanism Movement an extremist organization in July 2025. The Prosecutor General’s Office and the Justice Ministry filed the lawsuit to ban the movement following an initiative by Patriarch Kirill.
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What is this, anyway?
What Russia’s authorities mean by the “International Satanism Movement” (the Prosecutor General’s Office also refers to it by a second name, the “International Satanists Movement”) is unclear. Various occult organizations and sects associated with Satanism — a worldview in which the image of Satan is interpreted as a symbol of freedom — exist in different countries, but Meduza was unable to find any movement by that name in open sources.