Photo: Mediazona
A Russian military court in the western Siberian city of Omsk has sentenced two minors to seven years in prison for setting fire to a Mil Mi-8 helicopter at a military airfield, state-affiliated news agency Interfax reported on Wednesday.
The court found the defendants guilty of terrorism and sentenced the two minors, who have not been named, to seven and seven and a half years in prison. They will serve their sentences in a youth detention colony until they’re 18, at which point they will be transferred to a regular penal colony, Interfax continued.
The two minors, who were both 16 years old when they were arrested, were also ordered to pay 668 million rubles (€7.4 million) in compensation to Russia’s Defence Ministry.
According to investigators, the minors infiltrated a military airfield in Omsk and set fire to the Mil Mi-8 helicopter with a home-made incendiary device in September 2024. They were detained within 24 hours.
The pair told investigators that they set fire to the helicopter on the instructions of an anonymous person who had promised to pay them $20,000, but never did so. The minors made a video of them setting fire to the helicopter as proof that they had done what had been asked of them, Interfax continued.
Since the war in Ukraine began, over 150 minors have been convicted in Russia of sabotage or terrorism-related offences. In late October, lawmakers in the State Duma unanimously backed lowering the age of criminal liability for such crimes from 16 to 14 amid a sharp rise in the number of minors committing acts of sabotage.
