Ilya Florinsky is a political prisoner
A resident of Oryol has been sentenced to six years in a penal colony on a charge of making calls to engage in terrorism for videos published on social media
The ‘Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial’ human rights project, in accordance with international standards, considers Ilya Florinsky a political prisoner. Florinsky was convicted on a charge of making calls for people to engage in terrorism for online publications on social media run by ‘Citizens of the USSR.’ Florinsky’s prosecution and conviction violated his rights to freedom of expression and a fair trial. We demand that Florinsky be released immediately and that all criminal charges against him be dropped.
What were the charges against Ilya Florinsky?
Ilya Florinsky is a businessman from Oryol who used to be a supporter of Citizens of the USSR, an informal movement for the restoration of the USSR. According to the prosecution, he ran the Citizens of the USSR Oryol pages on Telegram and VK.
A criminal case against Florinsky was opened on 24 February 2022. The investigative authorities claimed Florinsky had posted two videos on Telegram and VK: in September 2019, a video entitled ‘Scheme of liberation from the regime!!!! (Day X – 28 September)’ and in April 2020, one entitled ‘From self-isolation to self-organisation.’ Both videos, according to the prosecution, contained calls for people to carry out a change of regime in Russia using violence.
Florinsky was first charged with making public calls to engage in extremism (Article 280 of the Russian Criminal Code), but subsequently, the case was reclassified under the charge of making public calls to engage in terrorism (Article 205.2, Part 2). Initially, he remained at liberty but under travel restrictions. However, on 10 August 2022, he was remanded in custody.
On 19 April 2023, a military court sentenced Florinsky to six years in a general regime penal colony. On 14 August 2023, his sentence was upheld on appeal.
Why do we consider Ilya Florinsky a political prisoner?
Florinsky maintains that the Telegram account on which the videos were published does not belong to him. He admitted he was indeed the administrator of the group ‘Citizens of the USSR Oryol’ on the VK social media site, but did not post the videos in question there either, seeing them first when shown them by the investigator.
The main evidence for the prosecution was the testimony of a classified witness, who stated Florinsky had admitted to him he had published the videos. In violation of the law, the court did not explain the grounds for classifying the witness and did not explain what the threat to the witness’s security was.
Analysis of the videos imputed to Florinsky shows that, even if he did post them, their content does not pose a public danger that would justify a criminal prosecution. In one of the videos, there were no calls of any kind to engage in violence. While it can be argued that, in a purely formal sense, the second video does contain calls to engage in violence, in our opinion these calls are abstract in nature and do not represent a real threat. Furthermore, this second video was about a protest scheduled for a specific day in 2019 that did not in fact take place. In other words, by the time the criminal case was initiated in 2022, it was already obvious that the publication of the video had not had any dangerous consequences.
A detailed description of Ilya Florinsky’s case and of our position is available on our website.
Recognition of an individual as a political prisoner does not imply the ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ human rights project agrees with, or approves, their views, statements, or actions.
How can you help?
You can write to Ilya Florinsky at the following address:
In Russian: 249275, Россия, Калужская область, г. Сухиничи, ФКУ ИК-5 УФСИН России по Калужской области, Флоринскому Илье Владимировичу, 1988 г. р.
In English: Ilya Vladimirovich Florinsky (born 1988), Penal Colony No. 5, Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Kaluga Oblast, Sukhinichi, Kaluga Oblast, Russia, 249275, Russia.
You can also send emails via ZT (for payment with Russian bank cards), OVD-Info and Memorial-France (free of charge).
Please note that letters in languages other than Russian are highly unlikely to reach the recipient.
You can donate to help all political prisoners in Russia.
