The Southern District Military Court sentenced Alexei Kaplunov, a resident of Ust-Dzheguta in Karachay-Cherkessia, to life imprisonment, the regional prosecutor's office said, as reported by Mediazona.
Kaplunov was found guilty of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code) and participation in a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Article 205.5). He will serve the first six years in prison, with the remainder in a strict-regime penal colony.
According to the prosecution, in June 2024, while serving a sentence in a correctional facility in Stavropol Krai, Kaplunov, "feeling hostility toward the authorities and opposing the special military operation," collected information about penal system employees and inmates who wanted to fight on Russia's side, and passed it to his handlers.
Mediazona, citing the court's press service, reported that Kaplunov gathered the data for the Freedom of Russia Legion, which is designated as a terrorist organization in Russia. He sent a message to a representative of the unit about voluntarily joining the organization.
Kaplunov had a prior conviction: in 2020, he received nine years in a strict-regime colony for intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm resulting in death, Mediazona noted. The sentence has not yet taken effect.