The court set pre-trial detention until January 2, 2027. Prosecutors and investigators had sought custody, while the defense asked for house arrest. Shibayev pleaded not guilty and declined to testify, according to The Insider, citing IvanovoNews. Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that he also faces a charge of abuse of office.
Investigators allege Shibayev acted as part of an organized group that gained unauthorized access to computer data, committed fraud and carried out kidnappings after which men were sent to the war in Ukraine. Fifteen people are named in the case, and at least seven men have been recognized as victims. The investigation is at an early stage, the court was told.
The press service of the Ivanovo region branch of the Interior Ministry said the crime was uncovered by its internal security officers together with the Federal Security Service (FSB). An internal review has been ordered, and the police said Shibayev will be dismissed from the force if his guilt is confirmed.
Shibayev has headed the Komsomolsky district police department since April 2024, Govorit neMoskva reported. About 20,000 people live in the district.
Reports of men being abducted in the Ivanovo region and sent to the war emerged in early 2025. In March, Verstka reported on six missing residents of the region: the men disappeared on their way to odd jobs, and some were taken from their homes by force. Relatives later learned that the missing men had signed contracts with the Defense Ministry and ended up at the front, with some of them assigned to the same military unit. In October, IvanovoNews published a report in which one interviewee said her father and uncle were lured to a meeting under the pretext of a job offer, then taken by force to an abandoned camp, where they were held for several days, beaten and forced to sign contracts.
In March 2026, a criminal case was opened in the Ivanovo region over kidnappings by an organized group. According to the Ivanovo Regional Court, the defendants seized men in 2025 and held them in various locations across the region. By June, six people were in custody. Whether that case is connected to the prosecution of Shibayev is not yet known.