A Russian citizen was brought before the Volgograd District Court today on charges of treason over a video that prosecutors say he sent to Ukrainian security services. The defendant is already serving a 3.5-year sentence for publicly burning the Koran in front of a mosque, but the new case adds a more serious charge that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, BTA cited.
According to the prosecutor's office, in 2023 he filmed a train with military equipment and military aircraft and passed the recording to a representative of the Ukrainian security agency. Human rights defenders claim that the accused is a political prisoner and emphasize that he was subjected to violence in custody. Before his first sentence, he was attacked by the 15-year-old son of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader loyal to the Kremlin. The attack was filmed and posted on social media by Kadyrov himself, who publicly praised his son's actions and later awarded him the “Hero of the Chechen Republic” medal.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, cases of treason and espionage in Russia have significantly increased, with Kremlin critics, independent journalists and scientists being targeted. The legal definition of treason has also been expanded to include the vaguely defined “support“ for foreign countries or organizations, which means that anyone who communicates with foreigners can be suspected of treason, according to the Associated Press.