Khabarovsk artist Xadad was finally charged; the case was sent to court

Khabarovsk street artist Maxim Smolnikov (Xadad) was finally charged in the case of justifying terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code), the telegram channel “Maxim Smolnikov’s Case” reported on June 12.

The hearing of the case will begin on June 29 in the 1st Eastern District Military Court.

Smolnikov is charged with two posts on VKontakte, in which he says that Mikhail Zhlobitsky committed a suicide bombing in the building of the FSB Directorate for the Arkhangelsk Region due to repression and torture by Russian security forces. He published the posts under the name “Peter Kakhovsky,” the indictment says.

• On May 11, 2021, a search was conducted in the house of Maxim Smolnikov in the case of justification of terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). The next day, the artist was sent to a pre-trial detention center; in July, his preventive measure was extended . On September 6, the court decided to release the artist from the pre-trial detention center and impose on him a ban on certain actions: traveling outside of Khabarovsk, leaving the house from 11 p.m. to 6 p.m., and using the Internet.
• On the morning of October 31, 2018, local resident Mikhail Zhlobitsky detonated a bomb in the FSB building in Arkhangelsk. Three employees were injured, the young man himself died. A few minutes before the explosion, a message about the explosion appeared in the telegram open chat “Rech Rebelshchika”. In connection with this event, a criminal case of terrorism was opened.
• OVD-Info is aware of more than 40 criminal cases of “justification of terrorism” initiated in the wake of the explosion in the Arkhangelsk FSB Directorate.