‘Nine years is probably a sign of admiration’ Excerpts from the courtroom speeches of the suspects in the St. Petersburg ‘Network’ case

During a hearing in St. Petersburg on June 17, the prosecutor in the high-profile “Network” (“Set”) terrorism case urged the court to find the two suspects on trial — 25-year-old Viktor Filinkov and 28-year-old Julius Boyarshinov — guilty, and sentence them to nine and six years in prison, respectively. Filinikov has denied the charges against him, stating that his initial guilty plea was obtained under torture. Boyarshinov, on the other hand, has pleaded guilty to the charges against him. Here are their final statements from their courtroom speeches.

Viktor Filinkov: Requesting nine years is probably a sign of some kind of admiration towards me, towards everything that I have done. They found five different drugs in [Egor] Zorin’s blood, but there was neither marijuana, nor MDMA, which they found [in his possession]. It’s obvious that FSB employees made a mistake and planted the wrong drugs on him. I understand why other defendants confessed — they were acting pragmatically, not believing that some other outcome was possible. In my case everyone was dirty — the [police] carried out the FSB’s verbal orders without hesitation, the state prosecutors seemed [to have their marching orders], the Investigative Committee lost all of the evidence, the Federal Penitentiary Service deleted all of the video recordings, and the courts constantly prolonged [my] pre-trial detention. I don’t know how to get out of this situation.

Julius Boyarshinkov: After almost three years in a pre-trial detention center I have learned to appreciate my loved ones who supported me even more. I want to thank them. I want to underscore once more that I never shared terrorist views. And I don’t share them now. I regret what I did and I’m glad that my actions didn’t harm other people.