"Mommy, remember, I'm not a terrorist"

A resident of the Irkutsk region with intellectual violations was condemned for ten years for the stateisms and propaganda of terrorism. He wanted to join the Legion "Freedom of Russia"

A resident of the Irkutsk region, 26-year-old Alexander Matheev, at the end of April, was found guilty under articles on state treason and propaganda of terrorism. Matheev was accused of disseminating information about the Legion of Freedom of Russia on VKontakte and an attempt to enter it. The materials of the Matheev case did not indicate where the FSB officers learned about his intention to join the legion, his lawyer admits that the recruitment could be a provocation from the security forces. Matheev himself was diagnosed with intellectual disorders, but neither this nor guilty admission influenced the verdict. The publication "People of Baikal" tells its story.

"Your son was detained for treason"

Alexander, his mother Matrena and nine -year -old sister Dasha lived in a private house in the village of Osa, 149 kilometers from Irkutsk. In early November 2023, Alexander told his mother that a few months ago he met a Chinese from Ulan-Ude. Matrena remembered only his last name - Lee. He invited Alexander to go to Smolensk to work. In the Osa, Alexander could not find a job, so he agreed. Matrena looked at the correspondence with Lee and released her son - she decided by tone of messages, a reliable man.

So that the mother did not worry, Alexander shared his plan with her. First, he will drop in Ulan-Ude to celebrate himself in a neuropsychiatric dispensary and military registration and enlistment office, and then he will meet Lee. Together they had to go to Smolensk to work.

On November 11, according to Alexander, he drove to the station in Irkutsk, and then sat on a train to Ulan-Ude-to go on it for eight hours. On the evening of November 12, Matrena called Alexander to ask whether he met him, and heard the sound of a moving train. Upon learning that the son is actually going to Kazakhstan “on personal matters”, Matrena cried out:

- That's so far! And if you are robbed or killed there?

- I do not communicate with strangers and bad people!

Matrena says that her son is too gullible, so she was always worried when she let him go from home. As a result, she took the word from Alexander that he would be in touch.

The next day, Matrena could not get through to him. The son did not get in touch over the next five days. From the thoughts that something bad happened to Alexander, she was saved by the work as a nurse in a children's hospital and the youngest daughter Daria.

On the evening of November 17, Matrena saw a call from an unknown number from the Kemerovo region. “Maybe Sasha,” she thought and picked up.

“Your son was detained for treason,” said the unknown man.

Matrena does not remember what happened next. He says that there was a desire to call someone, but to whom and what to say-she did not know.

"Son, the main thing is not to be deceived"

- Wait quiet! Do not spin! - his father Dmitry told seven -year -old Alexander.

Alexander did not move.

-And now-nalae-yo! - the father ordered.

Alexander turned left.

Dmitry is the father of Alexander, who worked as a little worker in one of the parts in Ulan-Ude: he repaired equipment, cleaned the snow. He did not serve in the army, but he wanted his son to become a military man. According to Matrena, Dmitry drank often - "two days later." Having drunk, he talked with his son as in the army, and sometimes he beat Alexander, and Matren, and his mother.

As a result, Alexander really became interested in military affairs. He wore the colors of khaki and military -style costumes. And he said to his lawyer Vladislav Astakhov that he always liked people in uniform, and he would like to serve, but they didn’t take such a “such”.

Alexander has diagnosed medium -sized mental retardation . According to the ICD-10 (international classification of diseases), people with this diagnosis can themselves lead to life (cook, dress) and earn, but often with physical labor. For example, they work as loaders or handying.

Matrena transferred her son to a correctional school in the third grade - every year it was increasingly difficult for him to absorb the program. After Alexander entered the cook in the Buryat Republican Information and Economic College and got a job by profession in kindergarten.

Alexander changed his job in 2016, when Matrena decided to teach her husband to “fit a little” and quit drinking, she took the children and left for the relatives in Irkutsk. There, Alexander got a job in a private security agency. Matrena recalls that before that he asked her permission. She approved the work, but said: "Son, the main thing is that you are not deceived and paid salaries." Mother reminded of this every time before Alexander went to work.

A year later, Matrena with the children returned to Ulan-Ude, but did not notice changes in her husband’s behavior and took the children to the native village of Osa. There she got a nurse in the hospital, and Alexander began to help his cousin per hundred (maintenance station).

Dmitry rarely came to the Osa, but once brought his son a New Year's gift - a hunted Makarov pistol. From such weapons you can only shoot in idle cartridges, but outwardly it exactly repeats the combat prototype.

- I was generally in shock. What kind of gifts are these? And he [Dmitry] was so important - this is what a gift I took out to my son, ”Matrena recalls.

In confession, Alexander said that he bought a gun in 2019 in Ulan-Ude.

"Is life worth such money?"

Of the paternal relatives, Alexander maintained relations only with his grandmother, who lives with his daughter in the United States. They corresponded in WhatsApp. Grandmother said that she writes a book about Alarsky Buryats , and Alexander - about his life and relations with his father: “Direct with dad. A terrible person, he is a relying ”,“ I am happy that you are a grandmother in the United States, with aunt dear, he doesn’t beat there, with equal dad fool. And it is not necessary to worry. Knowing that everything is fine with you ”(hereinafter, the spelling and punctuation of Alexander).

In November 2022, Alexander told his grandmother about the anti -war flag: “White blue white, this flag, for the freedom of Russia. Against Putin from whom the regime. Putin is called a fascist. " Grandmother asked not to write about it on the Internet, because they could arrest for this point of view. Alexander replied that he was offended by everything that was happening, and added: "I do not want war." To which the grandmother wrote: "And no one wants!"

At the same time, Matrena does not believe that her son was interested in politics - she remembers only two conversations with Alexander on the topic of military aggression. The first was at the beginning of 2022. Alexander reasoned: “Why did Russia attack the first? If suddenly they attacked Russia, then the world would support Russia? ” The second conversation occurred in September 2023. Alexander then returned from the watch in Moscow and said that "people go there freely, they can talk about Ukraine." Matrena "dismissed his words so as not to escalate."

In Moscow, Alexander was from June to September with a friend. He talked about this work to his grandmother-he complained about the dust, because of which he allergies began. At the same time, the indictment says that in September 2023, a man tried to leave Russia and leave for Ukraine to fight as part of the Legion of Freedom of Russia . According to the prosecution, he returned home, because in Moscow no one met him, but Alexander did not know how to cross the border on his own.

On September 16, 2023, returning after the shift to the Os, Alexander wrote to his grandmother that he was traveling in a car with the military: “They were traveling from Ukraine. All on vacation. " In the following messages, he said that the men invited him to go to the war: “500,000 salary. I myself saw. Today I showed the money on the map. Swushk showed me. "

Grandmother replied: “Is life worth that money? Do not listen to them. They can be just recruiters. ” Their correspondence ended like this:

“You don't think for war.” You used to be against the war.

“Yes, I’m really against everything,” Alexander answered.

"Why don't you write, Sasha?"

According to the indictment, on January 22, 2023, Alexander began to correspond in VK with the user of Kostya Abramovich. Alexander said that he wants to join the Legion “Freedom of Russia”. In response, Abramovich sent a link to the official website of the Legion and proposed to enter it, filling out an application through a telegram-boot. Alexander did it, but no one answered him. How often Alexander talked with Abramovich and which of them began correspondence - the indictment is not said.

On the anniversary of the war in Ukraine - February 24, 2023 - Alexander posted on his page in the VK flag and coat of arms of the Legion of Freedom of Russia with the words "Ukraine - victory, Russia - freedom, Ukraine is the will of the people, Russia freedom."

According to the prosecution, on November 3, 2023, an unknown person wrote to Alexander in Telegram and asked why he submitted an application for the “Freedom of Russia” legion. Alexander replied that he wanted to fight for Ukraine. Eight days later, the user wrote to him under the nickname reliable and said that he needed to get to Irkutsk, and then he will be helped to leave Russia and join the legion.

Alexander did so. It was then that he told his mother about the trip with Lee to work, but actually reached Irkutsk and bought a ticket to the taiga , where he promised to meet the reliable. Upon arrival, the reliable wrote to Alexander that now I need to buy a ticket to Kazakhstan - there it will be met and taken to Ukraine.

On November 14, Alexander was waiting for a train at the Taiga station station, when representatives of the FSB in civilian clothes burst into the half -empty waiting room. Two men sitting near Alexander stood up. One of them helped the security forces to take him to the room for interrogation. In the video, during the interrogation you can hear how Alexander shouted while one of the security forces pressed him to the floor. The man who conducted the interrogation said: "What are you aching, a dog’s dog?"

As the FSB officers reached Alexander, it is unknown. Lawyer Vladislav Astakhov notes that in the criminal case there is no data on when and how the security forces established that the accused will be at a particular station. According to one version of protection, it was a provocation and Alexander initially corresponded with the FSB officers.

Seven days after the detention, the grandmother wrote to Alexander: “Sanya! How are you doing? " Having not received an answer, after three days she wrote again: "Why don't you write, Sasha?" The last message was sent on December 18: “Sasha!”. Grandma still does not know why Alexander does not answer her. Relatives worry that her health will worsen because of the news, so they don’t tell her anything.

***

Alexander fully pleaded guilty, but his testimony did not affect the verdict. On April 23, 2024, the 2nd Eastern District Military Court sentenced Matheev to ten years in prison and a fine of 500 thousand rubles for the promotion of terrorism and an attempt to join the Liberty of Russia legion.

Lawyer Vladislav Astakhov - he was hired by the cousin of Alexander Olga - joined the case after the court decision, before that the man had a lawyer for his appointment. It was she who told Astakhov that, most likely, Alexander was deceived during the interrogation. FSB officers could invite him to give confessions in exchange for the opportunity to go to Ukraine in the ranks of the army of the Russian Federation.

According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, a contract for military service cannot be signed if a person is convicted of crimes related to terrorist and extremist actions, as well as for stateismmen, espionage, confidential cooperation with foreigners, an encroachment on the life of a state or public figure and the seizure of power and armed rebellion.

In an extracted epicrisis from a neuropsychiatric dispensary, it is written that Alexander has slow thinking and criticism has been reduced. That is, a person with such a diagnosis can not always objectively assess the situation and it is easy for them to manipulate.

Astakhov appealed to reduce the term of imprisonment, taking into account the confession and diagnosis of Alexander. He did not try to challenge the decision of the court: “Alexander the diagnosis is the basis for mitigating punishment. The court of first instance, in general, indicated that this takes into account, but still appointed the maximum term-this is illogical and illegal. Therefore, there is a chance to reduce the punishment. ”

According to the 275 article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (state treason), the suspect can avoid responsibility if he helped the investigation. However, the article has a postscript - if the defendant’s actions “do not contain other corpus delicti”. But Matheeva was also convicted under article 205.2 (the propaganda of terrorism - for the publication of images with the symbols of the Legion "Freedom of Russia").

Now Alexander is in a pre -trial detention center, is waiting for an appeal decision and communicates with his mother in correspondence. Does not complain about the conditions. Matrena says that even if everything is bad, he does not admit to her - does not want her to be worried.

Alexander still thinks that he will go to the war: “Mommy you will be proud that I will serve our country where I grew up. And born. Mommy remember I'm not a terrorist. Mommy, I am the hero of our Motherland. Our Russia. Yes, I stumbled. But then the homeland gave the service. The service that I always wanted. " Matrena does not understand why her son writes her such letters and what service he talks about.

"People of Baikal"