Would-be participant in Rostov-on-Don prison siege sentenced to 20 years in prison

A military court has sentenced a detainee who attempted to take part in the seizure of a pretrial detention centre in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don last month to 20 years in prison, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.

Despite being recaptured by guards immediately after attempting to escape his cell and join the uprising, Malik Gandaloev was found guilty of involvement with a terrorist organisation, and of manufacturing and stockpiling explosives. Prosecutors in the case had requested a prison sentence of 22 years.

The pretrial detention centre in Rostov-on-Don was stormed by Russian special forces on 16 June just hours after a number of detainees escaped their cells, seized control of the facility, took two prison guards hostage and demanded a car, weapons, and safe passage out of Russia.

The storming of the building by Russia’s National Guard and secret service operatives took just three minutes, during which three of the hostage-takers were immediately killed, while two others were injured and died before the emergency services arrived.

Prosecutors alleged that Gandaloev had become a member of Islamic State (IS) in either 2022 or 2023 and that he and his brother had prepared an explosive device and an explosive substance intended for use by the terrorist group.

Gandaloev, who was also fined 400,000 rubles (€4,250), will serve the first four years of his sentence in prison, and the remaining 16 years in a high-security penal colony.