A man who set fire to a Quran and was subsequently beaten up by Adam Kadyrov while in detention in Chechnya has been charged with high treason for allegedly sharing information with Ukrainian security services.

The Volgograd Prosecutor’s Office approved the charges against 20-year-old Nikita Zhuravel on Thursday. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. 

Zhuravel gained public attention after footage purportedly of him burning a Quran appeared on social media. He was arrested and later transferred to Chechnya, where footage emerged of the head of Chechnya’s son, Adam Kadyrdov, beating him up in pre-trial detention.

Prosecutors in Volgograd now allege Zhuravel ‘proactively offered cooperation’ to a representative of Ukraine’s Security Service. They further alleged that in March 2023, Zhuravel sent a video recording of a train carrying Russian military aircraft and equipment, and shared data on the movement of an official vehicle from one of Russia’s military units. 

‘Recall Nikita Zhuravel, the one who burned the Quran opposite the Volgograd Mosque? In February, he was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for insulting the feelings of believers. So, he faces a new term under the article on treason — the prosecutor’s office has already approved the indictment’, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office wrote on Telegram. 

Zhuravel’s arrest and prosecution

On 19 May, a 10-second video was published on social media, in which an unidentified person held a burning Quran against the background of a mosque in Volgograd. The following day, Zhuravel was detained and a criminal case launched against him in Volgograd on charges of ‘insulting the religious feelings of believers’. 

Two days later, the Investigative Committee announced that the case had been transferred to Chechnya for investigation. The statement also claimed that Zhuravel testified that he had burnt the Quran ‘at the direction of the special services of Ukraine for a reward of ₽10,000 ($120)’, and had also filmed military facilities on their instruction. 

In September, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, published a video from the pre-trial detention centre where Zhuravel was being held. In the video, Kadyrov’s then 15-year-old son, Adam Kadyrov, was shown punching and kicking Zhuravel.

‘I believe that anyone who encroaches on any holy scripture, including demonstratively burning it, thereby insulting tens of millions of citizens of our great country, should be severely punished’, Kadyrov wrote at the time. 

Russia's Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova later appeared to criticise Kadyrov for his treatment of Zhuravel. Moskalkova stated that the detainee should be ‘held in a pretrial detention facility in accordance with the rules established by law’.

On 27 February 2024, Zhuravel was sentenced by the Visaitovsky District Court in Grozny to three and a half years in prison.