Russian court sentences two men to 19 years in prison for anti-war arson attack

A military court in Yekaterinburg has sentenced two men to 19 years in prison for setting fire to a government building in the town of Bakal in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region that contained a military registration desk.

The ruling sets a new record for the longest known prison sentence issued by a Russian court for arson committed as an act of protest against the war in Ukraine. The anti-war initiative Solidarity Zone noted that the “unreasonably cruel” nature of the sentences could be a result of the fact that both defendants have backgrounds that suggest they should be “loyal” to the authorities: one of them, Alexey Nuriyev, is a firefighter, while the other, Roman Nasryev, is a former Russian National Guard driver.

According to investigators, in October 2022, Nuriyev and Nasryev threw Molotov cocktails into the window of the Bakal town administration building. However, Solidarity Zone noted that the explosions led to minimal damage, and the flames were put out by a guard. Neither of the men denied involvement, and Nasryev said that he committed the act as a sign of protest against mobilization in Russia and against the war in Ukraine.