In Kaliningrad, the court changed the charges against the defendants in the BARS case from terrorism to extremism

The Second Western District Military Court, at the request of the prosecutor's office, reclassified the charges against the defendants in the case of the "Baltic Vanguard of Russian Resistance" (BARS) from a terrorist community to an extremist community. This is reported by "Mediazona" with reference to the lawyer Mikhail Uvarov.

According to him, now Alexander Orshulevich is charged with the creation of an extremist community (part 1 of article 282.1 of the Criminal Code), Alexander Mamaev and Igor Ivanov - participation in it (part 2 of article 282.1 of the Criminal Code).

The charge under an extremist article was dropped from Nikolai Sentsov, leaving the possession of weapons and explosives (part 1 of article 222 of the Criminal Code, part 1 of article 222.1 of the Criminal Code). At the same time, Article 222 of the Criminal Code was removed from the rest of the defendants in the case.

• According to investigators, members of the monarchist organization "Baltic Vanguard of Russian Resistance" ("BARS") intended to join the Kaliningrad region to the European Union by force. In order to achieve their goals, the investigation believes, the defendants were going to apply extremist inscriptions using stencils. The defense claims that these stencils were planted during the searches.

• Initially, all four were charged under an extremist article, but in October 2018, information appeared that Orshulevich was charged with organizing a terrorist community (1st part of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code), justifying terrorism (1st part of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code), calls for extremist activities (1st part of Article 280 of the Criminal Code), possession of ammunition (3rd part of Article 222 of the Criminal Code) and explosives (3rd part of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code) committed by an organized group. Ivanov, Mamaev and Sentsov were then charged with possession of ammunition and explosives, as well as participation in a terrorist community (Part 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code). In addition, Ivanov and Mamaev were also accused of justifying terrorism.

• Alexander Orshulevich, accused of organizing the activities of BARS , stated that during the search they put a plastic bag on his head and used violence.