Russian man sentenced to 18 years behind bars for arson

Russia’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur resident Vladimir Zolotarev, 50, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison and fined 500,000 rubles (€5,000) for setting a door in a Russian National Guard building on fire, Siberia.Realities report.

The state prosecution wanted 17 years for Zolotarev for arson and violence against a police officer, Solidarity Zone notes.

The man was working as a taxi driver in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. In March 2022, he was ordered to stop by traffic police. The investigation claims that Zolotarev then resisted the arrest and hit an officer in the face with his head.

Zolotarev told Mediazone that the officers forcefully apprehended him and the pain “made him lean backwards and accidentally hit an officer in the nose with the back of his head”. He then faced a criminal case for violence against a law enforcer and was placed under house arrest.

“It is possible that Zolotarev was screaming something about arson while being detained,” Mediazone adds. “I did not and do not want to set any buildings on fire, especially administrative buildings. I possibly did say some things about it but I said them because I was in a very distraught emotional state that was caused by the political and economic situation in the country, while being concerned for my future, and after drinking a lot of alcohol,” he said at an interrogation on 23 March.

In the early hours of 4 June 2022, Zolotarev set a door in a Russian National Guard building on fire. Eyewitnesses reported that an idenitifed man poured gasoline from a jerry can in the foyer, lit the flammable liquid on fire, and fled the scene. Zolotarev was detained and placed in custody.

“I don’t know how else to talk to you, our beloved state. I only found one way,” Zolotarev said during an interrogation.

One detective noticed Zolotarev’s earlier testimony in March and launched another case, this time for prepping for a terrorist attack.

The investigation team claims that he told police officers in March that he was going to break into police and FSB buildings and set them on fire with gasoline. Law enforcers found a tire iron and jerry cans in his car.