Cherepovets resident Vitaly Torochkov, sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony, was transferred to penal colony No. 1 in the Arkhangelsk region. This was reported by the project "Support for political prisoners. Memorial".
In 2023, the 2nd Western District Military Court found Torochkov guilty under articles on justification of terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2), as well as on the manufacture (Part 2 of Article 223.1 of the Criminal Code) and storage of explosives by a group of persons by prior conspiracy (Clause “a” of Part 3 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code).
According to investigators, in February 2022, the man published a video on his VKontakte page and a Telegram channel titled "Russian Passport - Shame and Stigma!" in which the presenter, a young man, burns a Russian passport and says the words "Death to Putin." Experts considered this statement to be a call to terrorism, since by burning a passport with the Russian coat of arms depicted on it, the presenter allegedly "exerts a non-verbal suggestive effect" and encourages viewers to kill the president and participants in the war in Ukraine, as well as to destroy Russia. Further, the investigation claims, Torochkov, with the knowledge of his wife Polina Roots, acquired "a glass jar, metal fasteners, a metal canister, incendiary mass of match heads, smokeless powder, a fuse" and made explosives from them, which he kept in Roots' apartment with her consent. This became the basis for two more charges. As Memorial notes, the couple spoke out against the war in Ukraine and published corresponding posts on social networks.
You can write a letter to a prisoner using Russian Post:
163050, Arkhangelsk, Pirsovaya St., 27, Federal State Institution IK-1 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Arkhangelsk Region, Vitaly Viktorovich Torochkov, born in 1984.
- Since February 24, 2022 — the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine — residents of Russian cities have been taking part in anti-war protests and talking about the tragedy online every day. Anti-war speeches and statements are becoming grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 1,000 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protests against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our infographic .
- After the war in Ukraine began, the Russian authorities began to react sharply to protest sentiments. The list of articles under which those speaking out against the war are prosecuted is quite broad.