Vladimir Zolotarev

A resident of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a taxi driver, participated in protest actions. In March 2022, when he was travelling by car, he was stopped by traffic police officers, after which, according to the investigation, Zolotarev hit Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Feldman in the face with his head. Zolotarev himself claims that he was "tackled" during the arrest and because of the pain he "leaned back and accidentally hit" the back of his head in the traffic policeman's face. A criminal case was initiated against him for the use of violence against a representative of the authorities and he was placed under house arrest. On June 4, Zolotarev set fire to the entrance of department of the National Guard of the Russian Federation - later, during interrogation, he explained that he wanted to express his protest against the war in this way. The next day, he was detained and taken into custody, accused of attempting to commit a terrorist act. Later a case was also initiated on preparing to commit a terrorist act: according to the investigation, in March when Zolotarev was stopped by traffic police officers, he told them that he was going to open the windows of the police and FSB departments with a crowbar and set them on fire with petrol (the crowbar and canisters with petrol were found in his boot). Zolotarev completely denies these accusations.
In March 2023, the prosecutor's office did not approve the indictment in his case. In May, the case was transferred to the court, the episode which was previously qualified as attempting to commit a terrorist act is now qualified as the actual commission of a terrorist act. On 28 July 2023, Zolotarev was sentenced to 18 years in a high-security penal colony. In June 2024, it became known that Zolotarev was not receiving letters in the colony.

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