Ivan Fokin

He is a tractor driver from the Belgorod region. In the summer of 2023, he was detained for allegedly being drunk in a public place; then a criminal case was opened against him for illegal arms trafficking (Article 222 of the Criminal Code), and on 4 October 2023, two more criminal cases were opened against him – for attempted treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code) and attempted participation in a terrorist organisation (Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code). On 10 October, he was added to the register of extremists and terrorists.

Fokin’s mother reported that she was able to get a visit with her son a month after his detention. Fokin said that on 27 June he was detained by patrol service officers when he was going home from work and “was drunk”, and then “they found some likes in his phone”. Fokin also told his mother that the grenade they found in his home had been planted there: they pulled a bag over his head, “got his hands wet with something and gave him something to hold”. Then, according to Tatyana, Fokin was put in an isolation centre, where he was beaten and forced to sign a confession.

On 29 March 2024, Fokin was sentenced to nine years in a strict regime colony.