Mikhail Feldman

On 11 March 2014 Mikhail Feldman was detained in connection with the initiation of a case under the article on hooliganism motivated by political hatred or enmity by a group of persons by prior conspiracy in connection with the hanging of the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany on the building of the Federal Security Service of Kaliningrad region on 11 March. He was first accused of swearing and sentenced to administrative arrest, after which his flat was searched. At the end of April, Feldman was detained on criminal charges of hooliganism, after which he was ordered a measure of restraint in the form of detention. The investigation claimed that Feldman, together with Dmitry Fonarev and Oleg Savvin, committed the act of hooliganism with the motive of hatred towards veterans. There was an attempt to force Feldman to cooperate with the investigation under threat of criminal prosecution for illegal possession of explosives allegedly found in his possession during a search. After Feldman refused to cooperate, he was additionally brought in as a suspect under the article on possession of explosives: according to the case materials, a backpack with 357 grams of hexogen was seized from Feldman outside the FSB building. Feldman responded to these threats by going on a "dry" hunger strike for four days in the special detention centre, after which the head of the special detention centre gave him his honest officer's word that no explosives case would be opened. However, it later became known that the explosives charge was included in the case. On 17 June 2015, he was sentenced to one year, one month and 23 days of imprisonment served in the pre-trial detention centre and released in the courtroom. On 7 October, the court of second instance upheld the sentence; the hate motive was excluded from the charges. In 2020, Feldman was sentenced to two months of restricted freedom for insulting state symbols because of his publications on social media: he posted a photo of the Russian tricolour with the inscription "wipe your feet", the Russian coat of arms and a profanity-laced inscription, as well as an image of the flag next to a human anus. During the last word in the case, Feldman, while in the courtroom, took the Russian flag out of his jacket pocket, threw it on the floor and stomped on it with his feet, saying "Wipe your feet!". In connection with this, a new case was opened against him under the article on insulting state symbols. On 3 March 2021, Feldman was sentenced to six months of restricted freedom. On 7 June, the appeal court commuted the sentence to five months of suspended imprisonment. In 2023, a case was brought against Feldman for discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces. The court imposed on him a preventive measure in the form of a ban on certain actions. On 7 March 2024, Feldman was sent to detention due to the fact that he was buying wedding rings, thus being close to the administrative building, which was prohibited by the terms of the preventive measure, and he also left the house at 3:40 am. On 28 March 2024, Feldman was sentenced to two years in a general regime colony. The man has major health problems - he has cerebral palsy.