Russian court sentences Nemtsov memorial volunteer to 12 years in prison

A court in Moscow has sentenced an activist who volunteered at the makeshift memorial to slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in Moscow to 12 years in prison, independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Wednesday.

Yevgeny Mishchenko was found guilty of “participating in a terrorist organisation” for his alleged involvement in the activity of the Freedom of Russia Legion, a volunteer battalion within the Armed Forces of Ukraine that is outlawed in Russia. According to prosecutors, “wishing for Russia’s defeat”, Mishchenko had planned to join the legion in Ukraine last year.

The prosecution added that Mishchenko had contacted an unidentified representative of the legion to offer it the chance to station missile launchers on a plot of land he owned in Russia’s western Smolensk region.

Mishchenko, who was detained in September 2023, was one of the volunteers who maintained the makeshift memorial to Nemtsov on the bridge near the Kremlin where he was assassinated in February 2015, which has since then informally become known as Nemtsov Bridge. According to Mediazona, Mishchenko was severely beaten and had several of his ribs broken while in police detention.

Most of the evidence against Mishchenko is based on the testimony of an undercover employee of Centre E, an anti-extremism unit within the Russian Interior Ministry that is known for persecuting opposition activists, Mediazona reported, adding that the undercover agent posed as another Nemtsov Bridge activist and recorded his conversations with Mishchenko.

While Mishchenko told Mediazona that he had been in contact with the Freedom of Russia Legion, he did not admit guilt in court, arguing that the charges against him were politically motivated and that the evidence against him had been obtained illegally.

“I wanted to show that I’m not on the side of aggression. I regret that I got into this situation, but I don’t feel guilty,” Mishchenko said in court on Wednesday, Mediazona reported. “I am more concerned not about myself, but about what is happening in the country, about the people,” he added.