Igor Siomik is a political prisoner
A St. Petersburg resident has been sentenced to 10 years in a strict regime penal colony on a charge of financing terrorism for allegedly transferring funds to the Ukrainian Azov Battalion
The ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ human rights project, in accordance with international standards, considers Igor Siomik a political prisoner. Siomik was convicted of financing terrorism for a money transfer he allegedly made to the Azov Battalion. Siomik’s prosecution and conviction violated his right to a fair trial. We demand the immediate release of Igor Siomik and that all criminal charges against him be dropped.
What were the charges against Igor Siomik?
In March 2023 police officers from a rapid response unit broke into Igor Siomik’s apartment in St. Petersburg. Siomik was beaten and detained. He was then forced to ‘confess’ on camera that he had allegedly collected and transferred money to the Ukrainian Azov Battalion.
Pro-government media claimed Siomik had obtained the money by ‘defrauding pensioners,’ but the investigative authorities did not charge him with this. Siomik was accused of receiving 130,000 roubles from two people and transferring that sum to support the Azov Battalion. On 17 March 2023, Siomik was remanded in custody on a charge of financing terrorism (Article 205.1, Part 1.1, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In April he was added to the register of terrorists and extremists.
In July 2024, Judge Yury Kozlov of the 1st Western District Military Court acquitted Siomik for lack of evidence. The court found the money had been spent on everyday needs and that Siomik had not transferred the money to the Azov Battalion. He was released from custody in the courtroom.
In October 2024, an appeal court upheld an appeal against the verdict by the prosecutor and overturned the acquittal. The case was returned for retrial to a court of first instance with a different judge. On 23 April 2025, Judge Aleksei Lashkevich sentenced Siomik to 10 years’ imprisonment, with the first three years to be served in a cell-type prison and the rest in a strict regime penal colony. The defence in its turn appealed this verdict.
Why do we consider Igor Siomik a political prisoner?
The investigative authorities and the court wrongly classified Siomik’s actions as financing terrorism. The designation of the Azov Battalion as a terrorist organization by Russian courts is unlawful. The Battalion is part of the Ukrainian National Guard and carries out combat missions in accordance with the orders of the country’s military command. Moreover, the provisions of anti-terrorism legislation are, in principle, not applicable to the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Therefore, even if Siomik had indeed transferred money to the Azov Battalion, his actions would not have constituted a crime.
The charges against Siomik were based on extremely weak evidence, as evidenced by the initial acquittal, which is unprecedented in terms of the contemporary Russian justice system.
At the retrial, the judge based the conviction in part on witness testimony given during the preliminary investigation – testimony which the witness had not confirmed during either trial. Other evidence of guilt included the testimony of two of Siomik’s cellmates; the identity of one of these cellmates was not made public. Such a proceeding does not meet the requirements for a fair trial. The biased coverage of Siomik’s criminal case in pro-government media indicates a political motive in his prosecution.
A detailed description of Igor Siomik’s case and of our position is available on our website.
How can you help?
You can write to Igor Siomik at the following address:
RU:
399783, Липецкая область, г. Елец, ул. Пролетарская, д. 1Б, ФКУ Т-2 УФСИН России по Липецкой области, Сиомик Игорь Викторович, 1988 г. р.
EN:
Igor Viktorovich Siomik (born 1988), Prison No. 2, Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Lipetsk Oblast, 1B Proletarskaya Street, Yelets, Lipetsk Oblast, 399783, Russia.
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