The hero of "Afghan" was turned into a terrorist

Veteran organizations of the Sverdlovsk region appealed to the President of the country Putin and the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Lebedev with a request to personally look into the absurd criminal case falsified against the legendary Soviet paratrooper, retired Colonel Leonid Khabarov, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

On February 26, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court rendered a verdict in the case of the “Ekaterinburg rebels”, sentencing the veteran to four and a half years in a general regime colony. The court cleared the colonel of charges of attempting to organize an armed rebellion and the illegal acquisition, storage and preparation for sale of narcotic substances on an especially large scale, but found him guilty of “promoting terrorist activities” and “storing ammunition” (a collection of single cartridges of various calibers, seized Khabarov's house during a search).

The investigation lasted a year and a half, during which time 65-year-old Leonid Khabarov, a disabled person of the second group, spent in pre-trial detention centers.

Retired Airborne Colonel Leonid Khabarov is a well-known and revered person in the airborne forces; his name went down in the history of the military glory of our people back in the Soviet years. Colonel Khabarov is known for his active civic position, based on statist beliefs, and is an example of service to the Fatherland. He has always openly advocated for the observance of the rule of law, for the protection of the constitutional rights of the country's population, and against the collapse of the army by Serdyukov's "reforms". Everyone who followed the criminal prosecution of Khabarov clearly linked his arrest with criticism of Serdyukov. It is paradoxical that even now, when the target of his critical speeches has been removed from a high position and is himself under investigation, Khabarov continues to be undeservedly detained.

“The absurdity of the accusations is no longer in doubt not only among professional lawyers, but also among ordinary citizens,” representatives of veterans’ organizations write in their appeal. “It is not easy to accuse a person of complicity in terrorist activities, who devoted his entire life to defending the Fatherland from terrorism.” stupidity, this is a crime! Those who applied noted that Leonid Khabarov, a disabled person of the second group, is in dire need of hospital treatment and the remaining three years of imprisonment for him mean a death sentence.

The appeal was signed by the heads of regional branches of such organizations as the Russian Union of Afghanistan Veterans, "Invalids of War", the Union of Special Forces and Airborne Forces Veterans, the "Union of Russian Paratroopers", and others. The appeal was also signed by the Chairman of the Public Chamber of the Sverdlovsk Region S.S. Naboychenko and Head of the Sverdlovsk regional branch of the All-Russian People's Front, Chairman of the public council at the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Sverdlovsk region, honorary citizen of Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk region, Honored Doctor of Russia S.I. Spector.

Full texts and scans of documents can be seen here .