Ilya Podkamennyi

He worked for the fast-food chain Subway. Podkamennyi was detained in November 2022. According to the investigation, he wrapped copper wire around railway tracks and attached handwritten leaflets on notebook sheets to the tracks.

The leaflets contained the slogans "Death to the Katsaps!", "Instead of leaves, Putinists will dangle", and "Freedom for Siberia!". Podkamennyi admitted his guilt. From November 17 to December 21, he was under house arrest. Then the investigator appointed an in-patient psychiatric examination, after which the young man injured himself and was taken to a hospital. Then the investigator asked the court to send Podkamennyi to the pre-trial detention centre.

In December, it became known that the young man was also prosecuted for preparation of a terrorist act and organization of a terrorist act (presumably, it is Article 205 of the Criminal Code with application of Article 30 of the Criminal Code, as well as Part 4 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code). Podkamennyi was accused of collecting funds to prepare an explosion at the local military recruitment centre. Later it was reported that the case also included articles on undergoing training for the purpose of terrorist activity (Article 205.3 of the Criminal Code) and on public justification of terrorism (part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code).

Podkamennyi signed a pre-trial agreement with the investigation, but it was revoked because he committed the first act imputed to him while still being a minor. On October 19, 2023, Podkamennyi was sentenced to 12 years in a strict regime penal colony.

Arson attacks on military recruitment centres have become a popular form of anti-war protest, which, of course, cannot be called peaceful, but in the vast majority of cases this action looks more like a gesture of desperation than a planned act to cause serious damage. It is known that not all cases of arson attacks on military recruitment centres during the war were qualified as terrorist acts. It should be noted that no one suffered from Podkamennyi's actions, and arson, even if it was planned, was not carried out by the young man. In this regard, the qualification of his actions as terrorist, as well as the use of four articles from the "terrorist package" seems excessive.

You can read more about politically persecuted people in the Telegram channel OVD-Info LIVE and our politically motivated criminal prosecutions in Russia database