September 5, 2026, 8:53 AMTELEGRAMRSSRU
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Roman Balyasin

Not in RussiaChecked against the source: September 5, 2026, 6:09 AM
Criminal Code
Article 318 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
Case category
Anti-war cases
Region
Krasnoyarsk Krai
City
closed city of Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai

Case summary

Trade representative. He told Taiga.info that at night he was trying to paint over the Latin letter "Z", which was in place of the Cyrillic "Z" in the inscription "Zheleznogorsk" in the park near the forest area. An unknown person approached him from behind, Balyasin brushed him off and he fell down. It turned out that it was a group of law enforcers in civilian clothes, but with batons and service weapons. Balyasin was handcuffed, beaten, insulted and threatened with rape with a stick. The man Balyasin brushed off was found to have an abrasion on his face. After that Balyasin was taken to the department and interrogated. On 2 August, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case. Balyasin claims that he could only hit the right side of the law enforcer's face, and the latter was left with a bruise and a cut above his left eye. Balyasin placed under a travel ban. He was also charged with an administrative offence of discrediting the Russian army (part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) because of "marks with spray paint" on a "poster with the Latin letter "Z".

Others charged under Article 318 part 1, Russian Criminal Code

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Source: this person’s record in the OVD-Info political persecution database

Published under CC BY 3.0. The criteria for treating a person as politically persecuted belong to OVD-Info; FACTUM relays their assessment and makes none of its own.

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