Golik Mikhail Borisovich, born on March 26, 2004, a Russian citizen and resident of Veliky Novgorod, and a student. On April 29, 2025, he was sentenced under Part 1 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code (“Terrorist Act”) to 12 years of imprisonment, with the first 3 years to be served in a prison and the remainder in a high-security penal colony. He has presumably been in custody since April 2024.
According to the press release of the Veliky Novgorod District Military Court, twenty-year-old Mikhail Golik, “being dissatisfied with the domestic and foreign policies of the authorities of the Russian Federation, and with the aim of destabilizing their activities, decided to commit a terrorist act that would intimidate the population and create a danger of human death, significant property damage, and other serious consequences, namely by setting fire to the relay cabinet of the incoming odd-numbered traffic light.
During the night of April 16–17, 2024, Golik, having taken with him pre-prepared means for committing the crime, including a canister of motor oil, lighter fluid, and a crowbar, reached the relay cabinet of the incoming odd-numbered traffic light and set it on fire, resulting in its ignition, malfunction, and subsequent destruction—that is, he committed arson that intimidated the population, created a danger to human life, caused significant property damage, and led to other serious consequences.”
The release notes that in the court session, the young man fully admitted his guilt regarding the charges but refused to give testimony, exercising the right granted to him under Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
The court considered as mitigating circumstances his active cooperation with the investigation, being charged for the first time, and positive character references from his place of residence and study.
On April 29, 2025, Judge Yuri Anatolyevich Kozlov of the 1st Western District Military Court, reviewing the case individually via videoconference with the Veliky Novgorod Garrison Military Court, sentenced Mikhail Golik to 12 years of imprisonment, with the first 3 years to be served in prison and the remainder in a high-security penal colony.
On July 23, 2025, Judge Lyudmila Viktorovna Tarlavina of the Military Court of Appeal upheld the sentence.
Golik was represented by lawyers Tatyana Sergeyevna Myasnikova and Valery Nikolaevich Kushnir.
On May 23, 2024, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) included Mikhail Golik in the list of extremists and terrorists with a note about involvement in terrorist activities.
Grounds for Recognition as a Political Prisoner
Mikhail Golik is accused of setting fire to a railway relay cabinet. We believe that anti-war acts, as well as arson of various objects classified in this way, should not be arbitrarily classified as terrorist acts. Mechanically applying this criminal statute appears politically motivated and aimed, on the one hand, at intimidating society with disproportionately severe punishment, and on the other, at labeling these protest actions in public consciousness with the negative label of “terrorism.” We do not have access to the case materials and do not know the exact circumstances of the arson, but we express doubts about the correctness of the classification of the young man’s actions and consider it highly likely that the elements of terrorism were attributed to him arbitrarily and for political purposes.
After the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, amid the total suppression of peaceful protests in Russia, there was a wave of attacks on objects with the Z-symbol, attempts to set fire to military enlistment offices, and other administrative buildings. Initially, criminal cases for arson or attempted arson were mostly initiated under Part 2 of Article 167 of the Criminal Code (“Intentional destruction or damage to someone else’s property committed out of hooligan motives by arson, explosion, or other public-dangerous means”) or under various parts of Article 213 (“Hooliganism”). After the partial mobilization was announced on September 21, 2022, Vice Admiral Vladimir Tsymlyansky, representing the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the Russian General Staff, declared that “arsonists” would be charged with terrorism, which carries much longer prison terms. However, this has not yet become an absolute rule, and in the regions, some cases continued to be brought under less severe criminal statutes even after this announcement.
The wording of Part 1 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states: “The commission of an explosion, arson, or other actions that intimidate the population and create a danger of human death, significant property damage, or other serious consequences, with the purpose of destabilizing the activities of government authorities or international organizations, or influencing their decision-making, as well as the threat of committing the above actions with the purpose of influencing the decision-making of government authorities or international organizations.”
Thus, the mandatory elements of the crime that allow it to be classified as a terrorist act are as follows:
It is important to note that these elements complement each other; for an act to be classified as a terrorist act, all of them must be present. It is also important that terrorism is a crime requiring direct intent, so all elements of the act must be covered by the perpetrator’s intent.
According to paragraph 2 of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Resolution No. 1 of February 9, 2012, “Actions that may be recognized as intimidating the population are those capable of causing fear for life and health, the safety of relatives, the safety of property, etc. The danger of human death, causing significant property damage, or other serious consequences must be real, determined in each case considering the place, time, tools, means, method of committing the crime, and other circumstances of the case (such as the number of people in the area of the explosion, the power and impact capability of the explosive device used, etc.).”
We do not believe that the damage and destruction of relay and battery cabinets necessarily cause fear in the population. Despite numerous similar arsons, we have no information that people died, significant property damage occurred, or other serious consequences ensued. Common sense suggests that the failure of a single relay cabinet—which can always occur naturally due to equipment breakdown, wear, power outages, or communication failure—cannot and should not have consequences as severe as train derailments or human casualties. Such an assumption cannot be accepted without serious justification and explanation of the conditions that must occur and how the accused contributed to them.
A source from the “Current Time” publication, who worked on the railway and wished to remain anonymous, told the outlet about the consequences of relay cabinet arsons. According to him, a relay cabinet is a structure designed to house equipment and relays for signaling and locking on railway sections.
“It really looks like a metal cabinet, mostly gray, inside of which are rails with terminals and wires, as well as various relays. These cabinets are located along the tracks. All these devices and wires are intended to operate the track locks. One cabinet can serve one or several block sections on a stretch of track.”
If one such cabinet fails, one or several block sections (parts of a railway stretch limited on both sides by signals or by a signal and station; used for signaling and communication) will lose their blocking function, which will slow train traffic. “Besides the signal, there is also a locomotive signal inside the cab, which duplicates signals received from the tracks. If the blocking fails, the section switches to other communication means, such as telephone… Repairs after arson can take from several hours to a day, depending on the extent of the damage and distance from the nearest major station.”
Similarly, a former train driver told the media that the only risk from damaging a relay cabinet is likely “slowing traffic for a day. Most likely, the blocking will not work, and until it is restored, trains will run one at a time.”
As these and other railway experts indicate, cabinet arsons do not lead to train crashes or human deaths but only slow down train movement. Based on the above, we believe Mikhail Golik’s actions were misclassified as a terrorist act. His actions could have been qualified under Part 1 of Article 267 of the Criminal Code — “destruction, damage, or otherwise rendering unusable a vehicle, transport route, signaling or communication equipment, or other transport equipment, <…> if these actions create a threat to the life, health, and safety of citizens or a threat of destruction or damage to property of individuals and/or legal entities.” The maximum penalty under this statute is 1 year of imprisonment, which he has already served, whereas the sentence given by the judge was 12 times longer.
Furthermore, we consider it quite likely that the young man was involved in the illegal activity by Russian security services themselves, which often incite young people to such acts to fabricate criminal cases and improve their departmental performance metrics.
In April 2023, Mediazona noted that from autumn 2022 to April 2023, security agencies reported detaining at least 66 people accused of sabotage on the railway, mostly related to attempts to set fire to relay cabinets. According to the outlet, most were detained after penalties for “sabotage” were increased — the relevant law was signed by President Vladimir Putin on December 29, 2022. During this period, 51 of the 66 known defendants were detained.
Most of the detainees were under 25, one-third were minors. In most cases, detainees were accused of setting fire to relay cabinets containing railway automation. Often, “curators” were also mentioned, who allegedly promised payment for arson. Mediazona indicated that such cases are typically constructed in one way: a group of young people is detained for arson of a relay cabinet, supposedly requested by an unknown person on Telegram. Anti-war motives were mentioned in official messages, but much less frequently. Details of such cases are scarce, and authorities, as well as relatives and defenders, rarely share information. Security forces often claim that the “saboteurs” received the “order” from “curators in Ukraine,” but there is no public evidence of such curators or their detention.
OVD-Info reported that in June 2024 alone, more than 15 people in seven Russian regions were convicted for arson of relay cabinets, three of whom were minors. Sentences for adults, according to the human rights project, start at 11 years. The harshest sentences were given in Moscow to Kirill Gorkov (22 years 3 months, 5 years in prison and the remainder in a high-security colony) and Yevgeny Zaichkin (17 years, 3 years in prison and the remainder in a high-security colony). Twenty-year-old Artem Begoyan from Mordovia was sentenced to 20 years for arson of relay cabinets in multiple crimes.
Of course, such actions are unlawful; however, the disproportionality of the sentence imposed on Mikhail Golik—12 years of imprisonment for disabling a single relay cabinet—is obvious. We believe that by imposing such punishment, the courts and authorities aim to intimidate the Russian population and suppress any protest in its early stages, indicating a political component in Golik’s prosecution.
Another political component is mentioned in the court information: the young man allegedly disagreed with the domestic and foreign policies of the Russian authorities. Currently, the main direction of foreign policy is an aggressive war against Ukraine, and domestic policy involves repression against citizens opposed to the war. Additionally, the MK publication, without citing a source, claims that “the young man is a supporter of one of the extremist organizations and committed arson for political motives.” We believe that anti-war and opposition positions reduce, rather than increase, public danger even in acts that contain elements of a crime, including Golik’s arson of a relay cabinet.
We do not trust the young man’s confession, as such confessions are often made in hopes of leniency, under pressure, blackmail, or deception.
The independent human rights project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial,” continuing the Political Prisoner Support Program of the Human Rights Center “Memorial,” following international guidelines for defining a political prisoner, finds that the criminal case against Mikhail Golik is politically motivated, aimed at consolidating and maintaining power by authorities. His imprisonment violates his right to a fair trial and other rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The independent human rights project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial” recognizes Mikhail Golik as a political prisoner and demands that his criminal case be reviewed by a fair court, taking into account applicable international legal standards.
Recognition as a political prisoner does not imply agreement with Golik’s views or approval of his statements or actions.
Information updated: December 12, 2025.
