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Former political prisoner Ivan Lyubshin has received several phone calls urging him to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defence, reports RusNews. According to Lyubshin, the callers claimed that he had allegedly applied for service himself, but he denies this.

“This morning they were pestering me with calls, offering a contract service. <…> I told them off, very harshly, rudely. Nevertheless, the same office called twice,” said Lyubshin.

Lyubshin is on trial in Kaluga, a city south-west of Moscow, for allegedly evading administrative supervision (Article 314.1 of the Russian Criminal Code). At the previous hearing, the judge told Lyubshin that he could sign a contract and be released from criminal responsibility. After the hearing, just in case, Lyubshin sent his lawyer a voice message stating that he had no intention of signing a contract under any circumstances. Lyubshin is also listed as a “terrorist and extremist” by Rosfinmonitoring.

  • Lyubshin is facing trial after trying to leave Russia. On 1 May, Belarusian border guards prevented him from flying out of Minsk to Yerevan, where he planned to collect an already approved French humanitarian visa and then move to France. Lyubshin was handed over to Russian law enforcement, after which charges of evading administrative supervision were brought against him.
  • He told RusNews that, during his attempt to leave Russia, law enforcement tore up his passport.
  • In August, the prosecution requested a seven-month sentence in a high-security penal colony for Lyubshin. The case was initially being considered in a special procedure, but on 29 September, when he was due to give his final statement, the judge switched to standard procedure and restarted the process, citing the findings of a psychiatric evaluation.
  • In 2020, Lyubshin was sentenced to five years and two months in a penal colony because of a comment under a news story about the explosion at the FSB building in Arkhangelsk, a city in north-western Russia. After his release, he was placed under administrative supervision.
  • FSB officers detained Ivan Lyubshin in October 2019. He said that law enforcement took him into the woods and beat him with their feet and a stun gun. After the case was opened, Memorial recognised Lyubshin as a political prisoner.