A military court has sentenced the Chita anarchists – 19-year-old Alexander Snezhkov and 16-year-old Lyubov Lizunova – to six years and three and a half years in prison, respectively. Vladislav Vishnevsky, who was involved in the same case, was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor.

All three were convicted under articles on calls for extremism (Part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code) and terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). Snezhkov and Vishnevsky were also found guilty under the article of vandalism motivated by political enmity (Part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code). Lizunova’s vandalism case was dismissed due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for prosecution of minors.

Snezhkov and Lizunova were detained in the fall of 2022 on suspicion of writing a “Death to the Regime” graffiti and administering the telegram channels “75zlo” and “Shugan-25”, which published information about protests against the war in Ukraine, partisan actions and animal protection. Initially, the two had to sign an undertaking not to leave the city, and after their arrest in Omsk and Irkutsk, the preventive measures were tightened . Alexander was sent to a pre-trial detention center, and Lyubov was placed under house arrest. Earlier this month, the tenth-grader was sent to a pre-trial detention center because she was two hours late home.

Vishnevsky  was added  to Rosfinmonitoring’s “list of extremists” in October last year. Snezhkov and Lizunova have been on the register since 2022. There are currently more than 900 people who are defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protest against the war with Ukraine.

~ Uri Gordon