A court in Moscow sentenced 40-year-old Valery Perov from Nizhny Novgorod to 11 years in prison. Six years were assigned under the article on 'confidential cooperation with a foreign state,' and five under the article on 'public calls for terrorism,' reported 'First Department'**. Perov was also fined 500 thousand rubles and banned from administering websites for three years. The court only needed two sessions to reach a decision.
On October 5 of last year, FSB officers broke into Perov's apartment, beat him, and then started searching for 'some technical device,' which ultimately turned out to be a smartphone, writes 'First Department.' According to the security forces, it was from this device that Perov corresponded with a representative of the Legion 'Freedom of Russia,' fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and spread information about this legion online. However, the criminal case materials lack IP addresses that would allow determining from which device the correspondence was conducted and the place of information transmission. Instead, the case features a witness — an FSB officer who participated in the correspondence.
'Provocation is the main method for the FSB in modern realities to catch 'spies.' The security officers search the internet for people negatively disposed towards the authorities and engage them in correspondence, during which they 'extract' the phrases needed to initiate a criminal case,' believes 'First Department' lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov.
The prosecution believes that the Nizhny Novgorod resident corresponded with a representative of the Legion 'Freedom of Russia,' fighting on the side of Ukraine, and attempted to join it. He also allegedly spread information about the Legion. The court agreed with these claims, based on the testimony of an FSB officer and a Ukrainian flag found during the search, which was considered evidence of the Nizhny Novgorod electrician's guilt.
* Recognized in Russia as a 'terrorist organization.'
** Recognized in Russia as a 'foreign agent.'
Photo: First Department