
Photo: Investigative Committee of Krasnoyarsk and Khakassia
A court in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region has sentenced a man to three years in prison for defacing military recruitment posters, regional news website NGS24.ru reported on Tuesday, citing a source familiar with the case.
The 39-year-old man, who was identified solely as Vladimir, was found guilty of “discrediting” the Russian military for defacing 13 army posters, according to the report, which added that he also had his bicycle confiscated for being an accessory to the crime.
Prosecutors told the court that the suspect had been cycling through the regional capital Krasnoyarsk in the summer when he came across a military recruitment poster that he damaged with his keys before doing the same to 12 other posters around the city. He was detained in August, NGS24.ru said.
Vladimir reportedly pleaded guilty and paid the estimated 30,000 rubles (€285) in damages he caused. Prosecutors nevertheless requested the court give him a four-year prison sentence.
In his defence, the suspect told the court that his mother had taught him that nothing was more precious than human life, before describing the problems he faced trying to find a job following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, being required either to have served in the army or expected to perform his compulsory military service first.
“I didn’t want to go and serve in the special military operation as I knew I’d have to kill people,” Vladimir said, adding that several of his friends had already died in the war. “I was afraid I’d be forced to go. … I couldn’t kill anyone.”
“The last straw for me were the arrests at the Defence Ministry for corruption earlier this year. … I couldn’t take it any more and wanted to protest,” Vladimir explained, referring to the multiple arrests that took place in the ministry following the replacement of Sergey Shoigu as defence minister in May.