The Baltic Fleet Military Court sentenced 68-year-old Igor Odintsov to six years in a high-security penal colony in a case involving justification of terrorism.
According to the court, Odintsov posted messages in one of the messengers that investigators interpreted as recognizing the ideology and practice of terrorism as correct, deserving support and imitation. The case materials say that he opposed Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
The Lithuanian publication Lrytas пишет that on September 17 Odintsov reached Lithuania via the Neman River, where he was detained by border guards. According to Odintsov himself, he was being persecuted in Russia because of posts on social media, asked for asylum, and was returned to his homeland about five hours later. A court hearing in his case was supposed to take place in Russia that same day.
Later, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service said there were doubts about whether Odintsov’s words could be considered an unambiguously formulated request for international protection. According to the agency, after the procedure was explained, he refused to submit an application, and Lithuania’s Interior Minister Martynas Katelinas said the decision to return the Russian man was made after consultations with other state services.
On September 21, Odintsov was detained in Russia, and on September 30 the court handed down its verdict. The chairman of the Lithuanian community in Kaliningrad, Sigitas Shamborskis, who knew Odintsov personally, called the Lithuanian authorities’ actions a betrayal and said that returning the Russian man led to a long prison sentence.
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