MOSCOW, June 11. /TASS/. The Second Western District Military Court has sentenced former head of FBK (recognized as an extremist organization, a foreign agent and banned in Russia) Leonid Volkov (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia) to 18 years behind bars in absentia, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"The court found Leonid Mikhailovich Volkov guilty of committing a number of crimes and decided to sentence him in absentia to 18 years in prison, as well as a fine of 2 million rubles, with a ban on managing websites for six years," the court said. It is noted that the convict will spend the first five years in prison, the remaining term in a high-security colony.
During the closing arguments, the public prosecutor requested 18 years in prison for Volkov.
Volkov was found guilty under Part 3 of Article 282.1 (creation and participation in an extremist community using official position), Part 2 of Article 151.2 (involvement of minors in crimes), Part 2 of Article 214 (vandalism for political reasons - two episodes), Article 354.1 (rehabilitation of Nazism), Article 207.3 (dissemination of deliberately false information about the actions of the Russian Armed Forces - 18 episodes), Article 239 (creation of a non-profit organization that encroaches on the personality and rights of citizens), as well as Part 2 of art. 282.3 (financing extremist activities using official position) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The hearings were held in closed session at the request of the State prosecution.
Volkov has been living abroad since 2019, and in 2021 he was arrested in absentia and placed on the international wanted list.