Ilya Baburin

Resident of Novosibirsk. He was detained in the autumn of 2022 on charges of attempted arson of military enlistment offices in Kirovsky and Leninsky districts. During the search, law enforcers seized from him a book by American war correspondent William Shearer, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" - BBC Russian Service quotes lawyer Vasily Dubkov as saying that the investigation was thus trying to prove Baburin's adherence to Nazism. Initially it was reported that he was charged with attempted organisation of a terrorist attack, but later it became known that he was accused directly in the organisation. Baburin was taken into custody. Later he was also charged with involvement in terrorist activities

On 29 September 2022, one day before the reports about Baburin, it became known that a local resident had been detained in connection with an attempted arson attack on a military recruitment office in Kirovsky and Leninsky districts. Whether Baburin was also involved in this case is unknown.

In the pre-trial detention centre Baburin was subjected to abuse: he was placed in a punishment cell and a "psychisolator" - a special cell with rubber walls in which prisoners prone to self-harm should be placed - where he was completely stripped and given no underwear. Cellmates were told by the administration that Baburin had allegedly filed a complaint against them. In addition, he was not given the books and magazines to which he subscribed.

On 1 April 2023, it became known that Baburin was added to the charge of attempted treason (Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code considering Article 30 Part 3 of the Criminal Code): this is how the investigation qualified the same organisation of the arson attack on the military recruitment office "in order to assist" the Azov battalion "in carrying out activities against the security of the Russian Federation".

On 27 September 2023, Baburin was beaten by guards. The lawyer demanded the recusal of the investigator and filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office. The next day, three women, including Baburin's girlfriend, were searched, she was not released after the interrogation, and her lawyer was not allowed to see her. Later she was released from the investigator in the status of a witness.

On 11 October Baburin was placed in the disciplinary cell.

In December 2023, it became known that Baburin was charged with four more articles: illegal trafficking of special technical means for covertly obtaining information because of the GPS-beacon found during the search, committing a terrorist act because of the arson of a music school, to which, according to Solidarity Zone, Baburin had nothing to do, as well as participation in an illegal armed formation and in the activities of a terrorist organisation on charges of involvement in the Azov regiment - a charge Baburin also denies. According to him, when he bought the GPS-beacon, he did not know that it had a built-in microphone. He notes that he bought the device to keep an eye on the car he was going to rent out. "Solidarity Zone" suggests that the insides of the "beacon" could have been replaced before the expertise. In addition, the investigator refuses the defence of the Novosibirsk man's request for a second examination.

On 20 May 2024 Baburin was sentenced to 25 years in a strict-regime penal colony.