Arson in a three-piece suit

After spitting a jury, the court appointed Vitaly Koltsov for what he was not accused of

The Moscow City Court sentenced the Muscovite Vitaly Koltsov to the six years of the colony of general regime for the arson of the car carrier. He was found guilty of spoilage of police property. The accusation of the attempt on the life of the Rosgvardists was re -qualified to use violence that is not life -threatening and health in relation to the representative of the authorities (Article 318 of the Criminal Code).

Earlier, on June 6, the jury acquitted Koltsov on the main point of the prosecution - on the attempted life of law enforcement officials (Article 317 of the Criminal Code). From the prosecution it was excluded that he allegedly tried to kill 12 employees of the Russian Guard. The jury found Koltsov guilty only in intentional damage to property by arson (part 2 of article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The defendant himself partially pleaded guilty: he said that he threw a bottle of gasoline into a car factory, explaining that his “action” was symbolic - he was not going to kill anyone and was sure that there was no one inside the buses.

According to Koltsov, he wanted to attract the attention of society to the fact that now in Russia a ban on meetings and rallies has actually introduced.

Despite the jury verdict, the prosecutor’s office still demanded that the defendant impose a punishment in the form of 19.5 years in prison in a maximum security colony. According to state prosecutions, the exclusion of the jurisdiction from the questionnaire of the wording that Koltsov committed an act with the aim of encroaching on the life of police officers does not exclude this item from the prosecution.

46-year-old Vitaly Koltsov-a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Russian State Humanitarian University, reconstructor, participated in the youth league of the Games "What? Where? When? ”, The author of the scripts for role -playing games, the poet and father of three children: the oldest ten years old, the average six, and the youngest is not even two.

On May 2, 2022, Koltsov, having put on a three-piece costume, a white shirt and varnished shoes, went to the city center, where he launched two bottles of gas in the direction of autozaks in the area of ​​the Revolution Square. One bounced off the bus, gasoline caught fire on the asphalt. The second hit the front of the car, in which a fire occurred. The fire was extinguished by the employees of the Russian Guard on a few seconds. Koltsov was detained and arrested the next day.

Initially, the victims in the case were recognized as one guard of order, located inside the car carrier, but six months later they became all 12 Rosgvardists who were on duty next to the cars.

During the process, Koltsov did not deny his act, but assured that he did not plan to harm the life or health of the police. He reimbursed material damage in the amount of 61,900 rubles at the investigation stage.