Photo: Sota
22-year-old Russian Kirill Butylin was sentenced to 13 years in a strict regime colony for setting fire to a military enlistment office. He was found guilty under articles on terrorist attack, incitement to terrorism and vandalism (for a phrase in support of Ukraine, written on the gates of the military registration and enlistment office). This is the first known case of an arson attack on a military registration and enlistment office since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. This is reported by Sota correspondent from the hall of the Second Western District Military Court.
Prosecutor Ekaterina Minaeva earlier in the morning requested 13 years in prison. After his release, Butylin will not be allowed to publish materials on the Internet for two years.
Lawyer Mikhail Evseenkov said at the debate that Butylin is not a terrorist and did not pursue the goal of a terrorist act. He “misunderstood the aims of the war with Ukraine”, so he committed arson. The defender asked the court to impose a minimum sentence of imprisonment of less than 10 years.
Firefighters confirmed that the inside of the building did not catch fire, there was a small fire outside. Material damage amounted to 12 thousand rubles.
On February 28, 2022, on the fourth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the day after his birthday, Butylin set fire to the military enlistment office in Lukhovitsy (Moscow region), painted the gate in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and wrote: “I will not go to kill my brothers!” He stated that the goal was to "destroy the archive with the personal files of conscripts" and prevent mobilization in the district. According to OVD-Info, Butylin was detained at the border of Lithuania and Belarus. In his appeal, which was distributed by Telegram channels, the 22-year-old Russian also expressed the hope that he would not see his classmates in captivity or on the lists of the dead. He urged the protesters to be more resolute in order to “break the spirit of the Russian army and government more strongly.”