Denis Bakholdin
Denis Bakholdin, born 1981, Bryansk Oblast. Charges: Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code (Participation in the activities of an extremist organization); “The case of Denis Bakholdin”. Sentence (December 23, 2018): 3 years 6 months' deprivation of liberty in a general regime colony. Status: at large. Recognition: Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, October 22, 2017; Memorial Human Rights Centre — recognised as a political prisoner, October 18, 2017.
In brief
Bryansk Oblast · Bryansk · Extremism cases
Sentence
3 years 6 months
deprivation of liberty in a general regime colony
Upheld October 2, 2019
Charges
- Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code — Participation in the activities of an extremist organization
Full wording of the charges
"Being an active member of opposition to the ruling regime on the territory of the Russian Federation", decided to join Right Sector; from 24 October 2014 to 9 March 2017, he was a member of Right Sector "being aware of the decision of the Russian Federation Supreme Court from 17 November 2014 to declare the said organisation extremist and ban its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation".
Latest event
September 5, 2022 — removed from the rosfinmonitoring list
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners, October 22, 2017
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial Human Rights Centre, October 18, 2017
Timeline
· Removed from the Rosfinmonitoring list
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· Persecution ends
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 3 years 6 months
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial Human Rights Centre
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
Pre-trial Detention Centre №1 (SIZO-1) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russian Federation for Bryansk Oblast
· Persecution begins
The case of Denis Bakholdin
Criminal case
The case of Denis Bakholdin
Details and sources
Full summary
On the night of 9 March 2017, he was detained near the village of Suzemka in the Bryansk region on suspicion of violating the state border regime. On 10 March, he became a suspect for participation in the activities of an extremist organisation. According to Bakholdin, after his detention, he was handcuffed to a radiator for 12 hours, beaten on the legs and head, thus trying to extract a confession that he was a member of the Right Sector. On 12 March he was arrested. On 6 April he was subjected to an outpatient psychiatric examination at the Bryansk regional psychiatric hospital. According to him, the doctors asked him questions on the merits of the criminal case. He refused to answer them, after which the experts decided that they could not make a definite conclusion about his sanity and sent Bakholdin for inpatient examination in Moscow, to the Centre of Social and Forensic Psychiatry named after Serbsky.
In mid-April, an FSB officer came to the home of Denis' mother at his place of residence in Moscow and asked her about her son. At the end of May, FSB officers searched Bakholdin's place of residence and seized the hard drive of his mother's computer; his belongings were not in the house.
On 17 August he was transferred to Moscow. After a short stay in a psychiatric hospital in Butyrka, he was transferred to the Serbsky Centre on 28 August. There, according to Bakholdin, the staff also began to ask him questions on the merits of the case, he refused to answer. Then they began to apply psychological pressure to him, and as a protest Bakholdin declared a dry hunger strike, which, according to him, lasted for 5 days.
On 6 September, he was returned to Butyrka. On 16 September he was transferred back to Bryansk. Later, Bakholdin was transferred to SIZO-2 Novozybkov and placed in a special block.
In March 2018, Bakholdin was escorted to Moscow after the case was transferred to a Moscow court. On 20 April, the court ruled to return the case to the prosecutor's office.
On 24 December 2018, he was sentenced to three and a half years in a general regime colony.
On 14 August 2019, he was released from prison.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
Other people prosecuted under Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.