Nizhny Novgorod anarchist Ilya Romanov, convicted of preparing for a terrorist attack, was placed in a punishment cell for 14 days

Nizhny Novgorod anarchist Ilya Romanov, sentenced to nine years of strict regime for preparing for a terrorist attack, was placed in a punishment cell in IK-22 in Mordovia, Larisa Romanova, an employee of the Committee for Civil Rights, told Mediazona.

According to her, on April 26, an orderly approached Ilya Romanov and said that a prison officer wanted to see him. The employee was waiting for him in the toilet, “apparently because there is no video camera there.”

“The employee literally rushes at Ilya and shoves cigarettes at him, he pushes him away, the employee runs after him. Later, Romanov was invited for a conversation to the administration building, but he refused to go and only after talking with the supply manager went to the headquarters. Later, the duty officer was called to the commission and a penalty of 14 days in a punishment cell was presented,” said Larisa Romanova.

Earlier, a similar incident occurred: a colony employee followed Romanov into the toilet and shoved a cigarette into his hands. The employee immediately took a photo of him and filed a report about smoking in the wrong place. Then Romanov was reprimanded.

According to Larisa Romanova, Romanov was previously threatened because of his “terrorism” article that he would be put in a cell-type facility for six months.

In August 2015, Nizhny Novgorod anarchist Ilya Romanova was sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security colony. Later, the Supreme Court commuted the sentence to nine years in prison. In October 2013, as a result of the explosion of a homemade firecracker, 46-year-old Romanov was severely burned on his face and hand, which later had to be amputated. Then, Nizhny Novgorod investigators opened a criminal case into the explosion: first under the article on illegal trafficking in explosives (1 Article 222 of the Criminal Code), and then on an attempt to commit a terrorist attack (Article 30 and part 1 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code).

Later , a charge was added under the article on public justification of terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). Investigators were interested in the interview that Romanov gave in Donetsk to “representatives of the resistance of the South-East” on December 8, 2012, immediately after his release from a colony in Ukraine, where he served a sentence for 10 years in the case of “Odessa Komsomol members.”

“Mediazona” spoke in detail about the charges brought against Romanov and his complaints about the progress of the investigation and the falsification of the case materials.