SK: 39 cases against teenagers accused of terrorist attacks on railways were brought to court

Almost 40 criminal cases against 57 minors accused of terrorist attacks and sabotage at the direction of Ukrainian curators have been sent to the courts since the beginning of the year.

Sentences have already been issued against 18 defendants, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 5 to 21 years.

In the Chelyabinsk region, a 21-year-old man, on instructions from Ukrainian curators, recruited four 17-year-old teenagers to set fire to railway equipment.

MOSCOW, October 12 - RIA Novosti. Almost 40 criminal cases against 57 minors accused of terrorist attacks and sabotage at the direction of Ukrainian curators, including on the railway, have been sent to the courts since the beginning of the year, Svetlana Petrenko, official representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, told RIA Novosti.

“The investigative bodies of the Western, Central and Eastern Interregional Transport Investigation Departments of the Investigative Committee of Russia have sent 39 criminal cases to the courts this year against 57 young people aged 14 to 17 years, accused of arson on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services of various objects, including transport infrastructure, communication base stations,” she said.

Petrenko also said that sentences had already been passed against 18 defendants aged from 14 to 31 years. They were sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 5 to 21 years.

For example, in the Chelyabinsk region, a 21-year-old young man, on instructions from Ukrainian curators, recruited four 17-year-old teenagers for money to set fire to railway equipment. In one case, the convicts managed to commit sabotage, and in the other, they were detained. The court sentenced the organizer of sabotage to 20 years in prison, and four accomplices - from 5 to 8 years in prison.

In the Tambov region, a man, at the direction of the Ukrainian special services, involved a young man and a 17-year-old teenager in sabotage. At the end of December 2023, the defendants set fire to relay and battery cabinets at the Bokino station of the South-Eastern Railway. The man was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the young man to 13 years, and the minor to 6 years.

“The Investigative Committee draws attention to the ongoing cynical actions of the Ukrainian special services, which purposefully involve citizens, including minors, in crimes, promising them an imaginary high income,” Petrenko said.

She recalled that participation in terrorist and sabotage activities entails inevitable criminal liability, up to life imprisonment. At the same time, the official representative of the RF IC added that the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has Article 31, which exempts from liability in case of voluntary renunciation of a crime.