Ukrainian Dmitry Balog, detained after setting fire to a car with the letter Z, was given 25 years in prison; he talked about torture

The 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced 39-year-old driver from Ukraine Dmitry Balogh to 25 years in prison, the first five years he will spend in prison, a Mediazona correspondent reported from the courtroom. The court also satisfied the claim of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for 5,120,939 rubles.

Balogh was found guilty under articles of participation in sabotage and terrorist communities, participation in a terrorist organization, terrorist attacks, sabotage and treason.

Balogh was detained in a house in Domodedovo near Moscow, where he lived with his wife and daughter, on February 9, 2024 - the day after a KIA Cerato car with the letter Z on the rear window burned down in the city. The car belonged to Dmitry Chervyakov, a participant in the war in Ukraine, who is fighting together with his two brothers.

After his arrest, Balogh confessed and confirmed them for several months until he got a lawyer by agreement. Together with him, Balogh refused to testify and spoke about torture.

According to investigators, Balog, who had lived in Magadan since 2014 and managed to start a family there, at the end of 2022 watched videos of the “Freedom of Russia” legion and decided to move to Domodedovo to commit sabotage there. In April 2023, he filled out the LSR questionnaire, indicating that he wanted to “be useful in liberating Ukraine and Russia from tyranny.”

In May 2023, the case file says, he set fire to four relay cabinets in the White Pillars area. He filmed video reports on a burner phone and sent them to his curator. Balog was also charged with setting fire to transformers on a cell phone tower and buses at the Ministry of Internal Affairs parking lot in Domodedovo. Balogh is also charged with an unfinished attack on a military unit.

According to the Ukrainian, after his arrest they burned his hands with acid, shocked him in the groin, promised to rape his eldest daughter, plant drugs on his wife and send his youngest daughter to an orphanage. Based on allegations of torture, Balogh was denied a case four times.

After his arrest, Balogh’s wife distanced herself from him, so his whereabouts were unknown to his relatives. The Ukrainian was helped by his cellmate, who hired him a lawyer.

Balogh himself said in court that the investigator decided to hang all the “hangings” on him. He did not admit guilt on any episode.