How long was Fyodor Dostoyevsky sentenced to a Siberian prison camp?

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One of the greatest Russian writers — Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Dostoyevsky, shown in 1876, was introduced to a new generation of readers in 2024–25 when “White Nights” surged in popularity thanks to TikTok and Instagram users.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky was sentenced to four years in a Siberian prison labor camp, which was to be followed by an indefinite term of service as a soldier.1

This sentence was handed down after a mock-execution ceremony in which he and other members of the Petrashevsky Circle were led to Semyonovsky Square and prepared for death by firing squad before their sentences were commuted by the tsar. His experiences during this imprisonment later served as the basis for his novel The House of the Dead.1