Aleksei Sizonovich

According to official information, on 26 August 2016, Sizonovich was detained in the Rostov region. According to the investigation, after the detention, he fled from the law enforcers by jumping from a bridge into the river. A month later he was allegedly detained again while trying to cross the border illegally. At the same time, the investigation does not explain where Sizonovich was during this month. Sizonovich, by his own admission, cannot swim. Human rights activists doubt that Sizonovich could have escaped from the law enforcers in this way, as his physical fitness and health clearly do not allow him to do so.

According to Sizonovich, after his detention he was beaten and tortured with electric shocks until he agreed to sign a confession in the fabricated case. Human rights activists believe that Sizonovich was first detained back in Luhansk Region, after which he was handed over to Russian special services. Sizonovich was then arrested by court order.

Under torture, the pensioner testified that in 2014 he joined a sabotage group, received mine-explosive training in Kyiv, and then carried out several explosions in LNR-controlled territory using devices of his own making (no investigation was conducted in this regard).

In 2016, according to the investigation, Sizonovich was tasked to make three explosive devices and hand them over to another "saboteur" to commit a terrorist act in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky (Rostov region) before the State Duma elections. He later travelled to the Rostov region himself to photograph the railway station and the Likhaya station.

The consul was not allowed to visit Sizonovich in the pre-trial detention centre because, as it became known later, when the consul visited him in the colony, after the beatings his head was all black and twice the size. For court hearings they put make up on him to hide the signs of torture. He was provided with an appointed lawyer who made no attempt to assist him.

The trial lasted only a few days. Sizonovich pleaded guilty. At the end of July 2017 he was sentenced to 12 years in a strict regime colony and a fine of 250,000 rubles (4200 USD) on charges of preparing to commit a terrorist act, illegal possession of explosive devices and illegal border crossing. Sizonovich wrote a refusal to file an appeal, although his lawyer prepared it. On 7 September 2019 he was pardoned and released as part of the exchange of Ukrainian political prisoners for groups of people released by Ukraine, arrived in Ukraine.