Evgeny Bukarev

A resident of Ufa, a truck driver. In May 2022, he was fined 35,000 rubles under an administrative article on discrediting the RF Armed Forces (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) because of a Ukrainian flag hung on his balcony. "Kommersant" reported with reference to the court ruling that after Bukarev hung the flag, local video blogger Arslan Nigamatyanov came to his house and, introducing himself as a journalist of the BST TV channel, interviewed him. The blogger then released a clip of the interview on his YouTube channel, in which Bukarev says, among other things, that he does not support the war. The transcript of the clip was attached to the administrative case. Shortly after the court judgment, Bukarev left Russia. In November 2023, his relatives were searched. In an interview with TV2, Bukarev spoke about the case of repeated discrediting of the Armed Forces (part 1 of article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). However, apparently, it was still a case of spreading deliberately false information about the Armed Forces with the motive of hatred (point "e" of part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). On 24 April 2024, the court sentenced Bukarev to eight years, and the court claims that the sentence was not passed in absentia.