17:05, 23 May 2024

Mikhail Balabanov sentenced to 4.5 years in jail within the case of military commissariat arson

Mikhail Balabanov. Photo: https://www.instagram.com/solidarity.zone/p/CtZoFrfr6h1/ the activities of the Meta Company, owning Instagram, are banned in Russia

The military court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Mikhail Balabanov, who pleaded guilty to preparing the arson of the military commissariat (registration and enlistment office) in the Stavropol Territory, to 4.5 years in jail within the case of preparing a terror act.

He must spend two years in prison and the remaining term in a maximum security colony, the "Solidarity Zone" project has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the defence had disputed the qualification of the case as a terror act and pointed to evidence of provocation staged by law enforcers. The testimony of the 21-year-old Balabanov made during the preliminary investigation recorded his confession of hatred towards Russian authorities. The prosecution demanded 9 years of freedom deprivation for him.

Mikhail Balabanov was detained in December 2022. Investigators believe that he had planned to set fire to the military commissariat on instructions received from Ukrainian intelligence.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 22, 2024 at 03:33 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot