Bogdan Ziza

He is a resident of Yevpatoria and an artist. He was detained on 16 May 2022, the day when an unknown person poured blue and yellow paint on the Yevpatoria administration building and threw a Molotov cocktail at it. Law enforcement officers published a video in which Ziza pleads guilty. His friend believes that the artist could have confessed under duress. Later, Ziza himself said that the officers beat him in order to get him to exhibit “more sincere repentance”. Ziza was charged with an attempted terrorist act. He was taken into custody. According to unconfirmed reports, a case of attempted damage or destruction of property has also been initiated, but this article is not included in the final version of the charges. In addition, cases of vandalism and public justification of terrorism have been initiated against him because of a video manifesto that Ziza planned to publish. The final version of the case contains two counts under the article on committing a terrorist act: the throwing of the Molotov cocktail is classified as a terrorist act itself, while the phrase in the video that more will come is treated as a threat of a terrorist act. After the prosecution requested that he be sentenced to 18 years in a strict regime penal colony, Ziza went on hunger strike. On 6 June 2023, he was sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime penal colony. On 27 June, Ziza ended his hunger strike.

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