October 20, 2026, 6:34 PMRSSRU

Andrei Barabanov

At largeChecked October 18, 2026

Andrei Barabanov, born 1990, Moscow. Charges: Article 212 part 2, Russian Criminal Code (Participation in mass riots); Article 318 part 1, Russian Criminal Code (Use of non-dangerous violence against a government official); “A case of eight”. Sentence (February 23, 2014): 3 years 7 months' deprivation of liberty in a general regime colony. Status: at large. Recognition: Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, December 29, 2015; Memorial Human Rights Centre — recognised as a political prisoner, July 10, 2012.

In brief

Moscow · Moscow · Musicians · Cases related to mass actions

Sentence

3 years 7 months

deprivation of liberty in a general regime colony

Verdict February 23, 2014

Upheld November 10, 2020

Charges

Full wording of the charges

Participated in mass riots on Bolotnaya Square on 6 May 2012, used violence against a police officer

Latest event

November 10, 2020 — court ruling

The court upheld the verdict.

Checked October 18, 2026 · no changes since October 15

Recognition by rights defenders

Timeline

  1. · Court ruling

    upheld

  2. · Recognised as a political prisoner

    Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners

  3. · Persecution ends

  4. · First-instance verdict

    guilty verdict · 3 years 7 months

  5. · Recognised as a political prisoner

    Memorial Human Rights Centre

  6. · Persecution begins

    A case of eight

Criminal case

A case of eight

Other defendants in the case

Thematic group: Bolotnaya case; The case of the twelve

Details and sources

Full summary

According to OVD-Info

Andrei Barabanov was an ordinary participant of the event on 6 May 2012 on Bolotnaya Square, he was not engaged in political or public activities. During the dispersal of the event, he was severely beaten and detained, accused of disobeying a police officer. Barabanov was sentenced to one day of administrative arrest. At the end of the same month he was arrested in a criminal case. He was accused of kicking the body armour of riot policeman Ivan Kruglov (the investigation also claimed that Barabanov bit the shoe of policeman Andrei Goryshin). Barabanov pleaded guilty to using violence against Kruglov and apologised to him, but insisted that he had not harmed him and had no such intention, while the defence stresses that Barabanov's actions should be assessed in the light of the circumstances - the police attack on peaceful citizens. Kruglov himself did not identify Barabanov. There is no evidence that Barabanov's blow caused harm to Kruglov. In addition, one of the police witnesses said that Barabanov did not hit Kruglov, but his colleague Markov, but Markov was not questioned during the trial. The investigation also claimed that Barabanov was involved in breaking the OMON chain, although Barabanov and his common-law wife Ekaterina Minsharapova were in a completely different place, near the stage, at the time of the breakthrough. The prosecution urged the court in its arguments to disregard Minsharapova's testimony because she attended the trial as a spectator before testifying as a witness. Meanwhile, Minsharapova, unlike other relatives of the accused, did not attend the sessions before appearing in court as a witness. Soon after his arrest, Barabanov, who disagreed with the measure of restraint, went on a dry hunger strike, as a result of which he ended up in hospital. Later in the pre-trial detention centre, he accidentally bumped his eye on a sharp corner and was treated by an ophthalmologist.The prosecutors in the debate asked to sentence Barabanov to five and a half years' imprisonment in a general regime colony. The defence insists on his innocence. The Zamoskvoretsky court sentenced him to three years and seven months of imprisonment in a general regime colony, the Moscow City Court left the sentence unchanged. On 25 December 2015, he was released from prison.

All fields of the record
Citizenship
Russia
Sources (2)

Other people prosecuted under Article 212 part 2, Russian Criminal Code

Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.

All 146 under this article →