The Hussar Bravada failed

The key witness in the case of Evan Gershkovich went to bars

Yaroslav Shirshikov, political strategist and PR manager from Yekaterinburg, the judge of the Central District Military Court Vitaly Chumakov found guilty of justifying terrorism (part 2 of article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and sentenced the colony of general regime to two years, he is also prohibited from administering Internet sites within two years.

Prosecutor Dmitry Perevalov requested 6 years in prison. He is sure that the defendant committed a crime out of hatred of the social group "Military correspondents" and "public figures". At the request of the state prosecutor, the convict was taken into custody in the courtroom immediately after the sentence is announced.

According to investigators, Shirshikov was accused of that on the evening of April 2, 2023, learning about the death of the “military commissar” Vladlen Tatarsky (real name Maxim Fomin) in a cafe in St. Petersburg after an explosion of the figurine, wrote a criminal post in his telegram channel “Hussar bravado”. In particular, the post was about the fact that Shirshikov against the explosions and deaths of people, but he recalled that the Tatar repeatedly stated that "he wanted to kill everyone and rob."

Shirshikov was detained by FSB investigators on April 18, 2023, on April 19, by the decision of the Upper Isetsky Court of Yekaterinburg, he was sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months, but on June 14 they released a recognizance not to leave. Shirshikov himself told

That investigators were more interested in the details of his March meeting with the correspondent of Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich than his own criminal case.

The American journalist is the accused of espionage and is in the Moscow pre -trial detention center.

The trial of Shirsshikov began at the end of January 2024. As one of the evidence of the guilt of the PR man, a CD-disk was used with the performance of the head of the LDPR Leonid Slutsky at the funeral of Tatar, where the politician says that the military university "died as a hero" so that "terrorist scum would never trample our land."

The examination was also used in the case. The initial examination of the Ministry of Justice, during the investigation, came to the conclusion that Shirshikov’s words did not justify terrorism, but after that the FSB ordered another examination, this time the expert of the Federal Security Service of the Sverdlovsk Region Svetlana Mochalova took up the case. She turned out to be more keen and was able to find signs of justification of terrorism in Shirshikov’s statement. The proof was the fact that the Investigative Committee instituted a criminal case of a terrorist attack as a result of the murder of Tatar. Although the day before, when Shirshikov wrote his post, it was announced to initiate a criminal case under the article “Murder”. They re -qualified him in the attack after the publication of the post.

In court, Yaroslav Shirshikov pleaded guilty and asked the court not to deprive him of freedom, since he was not dangerous for society. The accused asked to take into account his positive characteristics and financial situation, which allows to pay a fine if he was appointed by the court.

The lawyer Shirshikov Fedor Akcheryshev said that he would appeal the verdict, as he considers the guilt of his principal not proven. According to him, Shirshikov justified the murder, not a terrorist act, there are no calls for terrorist activities in his post.

Yekaterinburg