Sergei Zhelezniakov

A resident of the Kaliningrad region, Russia, was taken into custody in 2020 on charges of insurance fraud. While in pre-trial detention centre, he converted to Islam. He was later acquitted and released. After his release, according to Russian independent news outlet SOTAvision, a supporter of the organisation "Jaysh al-Muhajirin wal-Ansar" was sent to Zhelezniakov (it is not clear from the report who sent this person to him). The lawyer claims that the investigation unreasonably considered this organisation to be a structural subdivision of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is recognised as a terrorist organisation in the Russian Federation. A case was opened against Zhelezniakov for participation in a terrorist organisation (initially, it was reported that he was accused of assisting in terrorist activities), and he was taken into custody. He reported that on the day of detention, he was beaten and tortured with electric shocks. The lawyer points to the falsifications in the case: according to the case materials, a field officer gave the investigator an envelope containing a phone — which, according to the investigation, Zhelezniakov allegedly used to create a Telegram channel with calls to terrorism — along with screenshots from the phone. However, the investigator took from the envelope not a phone and screenshots, but an unknown CD. The defence also notes that, according to the prosecution, Zhelezniakov used the phone from 1 to 3 May 2023, but the first time the phone accessed the Internet was only on 5 May. The defendant claims that the phone does not belong to him. On 11 April 2025, Zhelezniakov was sentenced to 12 years in a strict-regime penal colony.