A Nizhny Novgorod student was fined 100,000 rubles for illegal detention

The court in Nizhny Novgorod awarded compensation in the amount of 100 thousand rubles to student Artyom Lebedev for illegal criminal prosecution. Last September, Lebedev was detained on charges of setting fire to the military enlistment office. He spent several days in a pre-trial detention center. Later, Lebedev was released because no evidence of his guilt was found.

On September 21, 2022, immediately after the announcement of mobilization in Russia, a fire broke out at the military enlistment office in Nizhny Novgorod. The premises of the medical office were on fire. A broken window and bottle fragments were found at the scene.

19-year-old student Artyom Lebedev was detained on suspicion of arson. His home was searched, his computer was seized. After several days in the pre-trial detention center, Lebedev was released on recognizance. However, the investigation failed to establish Lebedev’s involvement in the arson, as a result of which charges were dropped against him.

At the beginning of this year, Lebedev filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Finance of Russia. He demanded compensation for moral and physical suffering in the amount of 300 thousand rubles. Lebedev claimed that when he was suspected of arson, he was in a difficult psychological state, experiencing fear and confusion. In addition, he stated that his reputation was damaged, since his name as a suspect was publicly mentioned, and the situation was widely discussed in the local mass media and on social networks.

Representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not recognize the claim, stating that there was no confirmation of the claims of suffering. Nevertheless, the court ruled that the authorities must pay Lebedev compensation in the amount of 100,000 rubles.

• Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine and the mobilization associated with it, attacks on the buildings of military enlistment offices and administrations have become more frequent in different cities of Russia. At least forty similar cases are known, criminal cases were initiated in several regions. The General Staff of Russia announced that cases of arson of military enlistment centers would be considered acts of terrorism and would be punishable by up to 15 years in prison.