Russian poet jailed for satirical suicide-themed dating poem goes free after nearly a year in pretrial detention

Source: Department One

A St. Petersburg court dismissed the criminal case against Kirill Yakovlev, a poet who publishes under the name Glikery Ulunov, on charges of “suicide propaganda,” freeing him from pretrial detention, the Russian human rights group Department One reported.

“Clean legal victories like this don’t happen every day!” said Yevgeny Smirnov, a defense attorney at Department One. “An absurd case — absurd both by common sense and by law — ended fairly: a person was freed from criminal liability.”

Prosecutors charged Ulunov with “organizing activities aimed at inciting suicide,” an offense that carries a prison sentence of five to 15 years. Ulunov was detained in August 2025 and later remanded in custody.

The case stems from a satirical poem Ulunov wrote titled “Five Thousand Ideas for a Destructive Date.” Investigators found that it contained “hidden calls to suicide and self-harm.”

Ulunov has won several poetry awards and has published work in the journal Flagi (Flags). Russian propaganda outlets highlighted Ulunov’s studies at the European University at Saint Petersburg (a private research university that has been repeatedly targeted by Russian authorities) and the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, as well as his plans to relocate to the United Kingdom on a grant from The Hill Foundation. RIA Novosti described the foundation as a “successor to the cause” of the Khodorkovsky Foundation, which Russia has banned.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

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Russian poet jailed for satirical suicide-themed dating poem goes free after nearly a year in pretrial detention

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Russian poet jailed for satirical suicide-themed dating poem goes free after nearly a year in pretrial detention

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