Ilya Baburin sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment

The 2nd Eastern military district court at Novosibirsk has sentenced 24-year-old Ilya Baburin, in the case of an arson of a military recruitment centre that did not happen. Baburin was found guilty under an array of Articles, including “treason against the state” and “attempted organisation of a terrorist act”. The court sentenced Ilya to 25 years’ imprisonment, of which the first five years must be served in prison, and the remaining 20 in a strict regime colony.

Ilya pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him. His lawyer, Vasily Dubkov, called on the court to acquit his client.

✊ Solidarity zone provides full support to Ilya Baburin. In the first place, we need to complete the fundraiser to pay his lawyer. You can support this via the link.

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❗️ The anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui could face a life sentence

On 30 May, new charges were brought against the anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui, who is accused of acts of sabotage against military infrastructure in Russia. He is now charged with "undertaking training with the intention of perpetrating acts of terrorism" (Article 205.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and of handling explosive substances for an "organised group" (Article 222.1, paragraph 4). He could now face a prison sentence of between 15 years to life. 

Charges were previously brought against Ruslan Siddiqui under Articles covering acts of terrorism and the preparation of explosive substances, which could mean between 12 and 30 years in prison. But the Article on "terrorist training" envisages harsher punishment than the one on acts of terrorism — from 15 years to life. The Article is written in such a way that the security services can use it to add to their leading case. A defendant faces a longer sentence for "training" than for actually doing something. This Article was also used, for example, in the case of Roman Nasryev and Alexei Nuriev, who earlier this year received the record sentence for firebombing a military recruitment centre: 19 years’ imprisonment each.

Ruslan Siddiqui does not consider what he did — blowing up a section of railway underneath a goods train, and attacking a military aerodrome with drones — to be terrorism. He points out that his aim was to damage military infrastructure. He undertook his actions in such a way as to avoid harming anybody. The Article on "terrorist acts", one of the main definitions of which is that they intimidate people, does not apply.

For this reason, we believe that the Article on "terrorist training" also does not apply in Ruslan’s case.

As for handling explosive substances, here the phrase about an "organised group" raises questions. The investigating officers claim that the "organised criminal group" is the Central Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of Ukraine. But Ruslan insists that he planned and carried out his actions single-handedly. And the investigators themselves found that Siddiqui had prepared explosives at home, using ingredients that can be purchased legally: the most popular ones in Russia — triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and ammonal.

Solidarity zone is now collecting funds to pay for a lawyer for Ruslan Siddiqui. The lawyer is not only a specialist for defence in court, but also the only person who can visit a prisoner in pre-trial detention (SIZO) and be present during questioning by investigating officers. A lawyer is a vital defence against torture and other methods of intimidation. You can support the fundraiser via PayPal or using cryptocurrency.

🪙 PayPal: [email protected] (please specify, "for Siddiqui")

🥷 Cryptocurrencies (please inform us by email to [email protected] if you send cryptocurrency to support Ruslan Siddiqui)

Monero: 4B1tm6boA5ST6hLdfnPRG2Np9XMHCTiyhE6QaFo46QXp6tZ7Y6nJjE43xBBTwHM84bWwexR8nS4KH36JHujjc1kC8j2Mx5e

Bitcoin: bc1qn404lrshp3q9gd7852d7w85sa09aq0ch28s3v4

USDT (TRC20):
TRcCUHKSMY7iLJPvbDxLc6ZnvAud72jTgj

💌 You can also support Ruslan by writing letters (in Russian only)!

✉️ Address for letters:
Russia, 125130, Москва, ул. Выборгская, д. 20, СИЗО-5
Siddiqui Ruslan Kasemovich, born 1988 (Сидики Руслан Касемович 1988 г. р.)

📧 You can write via PrisonMail.Online service: "Moscow" ⮕ "SIZO-5 Vodnik"

ℹ️ How can I write letters to political prisoners in Russia?

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