On June 17, security forces detained retired colonel Mikhail Shendakov in the Moscow metro. He will presumably be sent to a psychiatric hospital for compulsory treatment in accordance with a court ruling. This was reported by politician and former Moscow City Duma deputy Yevgeny Stupin.
On March 22, 2024, Shendakov was released from the penal colony where he was serving his sentence. He was supposed to go to the psychiatric hospital on his own, but instead he went home.
A criminal case was opened against the former colonel in February 2020 due to the video "Surkov promised war to Donbass!" The man was found guilty of inciting hatred or enmity (Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code) and public calls for extremism on the Internet (Part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code). In February 2021, the court sentenced Shendakov to two and a half years of probation.
In November 2021, the Krasnogorsk City Court sentenced the former colonel to three years probation in a case of incitement of hatred or enmity (Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code) due to a joke about a National Guard officer and a surgeon. This was reported by Current Time.
In February 2023, the Krasnogorsk City Court replaced Shendakov’s suspended sentence with two and a half years of actual imprisonment in the case of the video “Surkov promised war to Donbass!”
On March 7, 2023, a new criminal case was opened against the former colonel under articles on calls for extremism (Article 280 of the Criminal Code) and on incitement to hatred or enmity (Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code). It is reported that he "published a video in one of the social networks with his personal participation, which, according to the expert's conclusion, contains calls for violent actions against law enforcement officers and government officials."
On June 16, 2023, the Krasnogorsk City Court of the Moscow Region issued a ruling on the appointment of compulsory treatment for Shendakov in the case of incitement of hatred or enmity (Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code) and public calls for extremism (Part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code). This was reported on the website of the project "Support for political prisoners. Memorial".
- Colonel Mikhail Shendakov became an activist after leaving the army. He regularly participated in various actions. From time to time he was detained, for example, at a rally in defense of trolleybuses or at a walk of the "New Opposition" in 2017, at the " Russian March " with a poster "It's time to poison the rats before the rats destroy us" near the Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station in 2018, at a rally against the non-admission of independent candidates to the Moscow City Duma in 2019.