The court approved the sentence of an FSO officer who opposed the war and tried to escape from mobilization • OVD-Info • RIMA

The court approved the sentence of an FSO officer who opposed the war and tried to escape from mobilization

The 2nd Eastern District Military Court approved the sentence of FSO Major Mikhail Zhilin, who opposed the war with Ukraine and tried to escape mobilization. The press service of the court reported this on VKontakte.

In March, the Barnaul Garrison Military Court sentenced Zhilin to six and a half years in a maximum security colony with deprivation of his military rank on charges of desertion during the period of mobilization (Part 3 of Article 338 of the Criminal Code) and illegal crossing of the state border (Part 1 of Article 322 of the Criminal Code).

In September 2022, after mobilization was announced, Zhilin crossed the border with Kazakhstan, bypassing the official checkpoint, making his way under barbed wire. Due to access to state secrets, the man was prohibited from leaving Russia and did not have a foreign passport. Having met border guards, he asked for asylum.

Kazakhstan denied the officer political asylum. On December 2, the court found him guilty of illegally crossing the border, giving him six months of suspended imprisonment and deportation from the country.

The man was allowed to leave on his own, but he was unable to do so: he was detained at the request of Russia at the airport when he was trying to fly to Armenia. In Russia, a military man was put on the international wanted list under articles of desertion (Article 338 of the Criminal Code) and illegal border crossing (Article 322 of the Criminal Code). Kazakhstan extradited him in December. The Barnaul Garrison Court found Zhilin guilty on both counts.

In January, Ekaterina Zhilina flew to France with her children, where she planned to request political asylum. It was reported that the day before her departure, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan was “interested” in the woman.

On September 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin announced a “partial” mobilization, after which Sergei Shoigu ordered the conscription of 300 thousand people into the army.