Mark Davydov

A resident of Alushta. On October 11, 2019, he was detained at Krasnodar airport, from where he was going to fly to Istanbul. Davydov later recounted that a FSB officer beat him right at the airport and threatened him with further violence and the arrest of his relatives. Davydov was remanded in custody on charges of financing terrorism, preparation for financing terrorism and preparing to participate in the activities of a terrorist organization. According to the investigation, he helped Farrukh Faizimatov (Faruk Shami), a citizen of Tajikistan, to collect money for the needs of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham movement (in the judgment - Hayat Tahri al-Sham), which took part in the hostilities in Syria against the troops of the then government, and at the same time against Russian servicemen who helped them, transferred money to him for the same purposes and intended to go to Syria and join the movement there. Representatives of that movement have now seized power in Syria. Davydov initially confessed. At the trial, he retracted his confession, saying that he had done so out of fear of torture and threats. He said that he did not know about the movement's activities and only wanted to help the people of Syria. On April 7, 2021, Davydov was sentenced to 18 years in a strict regime colony. At the same time, the court reclassified the charge on one of the episodes of terrorism financing to aiding in financing, the charge of preparing to participate in the activities of a terrorist organization was reclassified to preparation for attempted participation, and the charge of preparing to finance terrorism was dropped. On October 6, 2021, the appellate court reclassified the charge from preparation for attempted participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation to preparation for participation in the activities of an illegal armed group. Davydov's sentence was reduced by two months. On September 21, 2022, the Court of Cassation reinstated the charge of preparing to finance terrorism and reduced the sentence to 17 years of imprisonment in a strict regime colony.