Ukrainian citizen Hryhorii Sinchenko, who is on trial in the case over the alleged planned takeover of SIZO-5 in Rostov-on-Don, used his court time not for closing arguments but to report that a bomb had supposedly been planted in a residential building. Mediazona reported this from the hearing.
Sinchenko said he had received information from sources that could not be disclosed that a bomb had been planted in a building in Rostov-on-Don, and that he considered it his duty to inform the court and the prosecutor because people could die.
His lawyer, Ivan Bondarenko, immediately interrupted and said the address named was his home address. The defense attorney suggested it was a foolish joke by his client. Even so, the court called a recess so the state prosecutor could pass the information to emergency services. When the hearing resumed, Sinchenko refused to take part in the closing arguments and admitted he had been joking.
The report notes that in January the defendant had already made another unexpected statement in court. At that time, he claimed that during the trial he had encouraged one of the prosecution witnesses to commit suicide and asked the court to send an extract from the hearing transcript to the Investigative Committee. He said his actions would fall under Article 110.1 of Russia’s Criminal Code.
Sinchenko, Vladimir Makarenko, and Russian citizen Dmitry Papenko are accused of preparing a terrorist attack. According to investigators, they planned to seize the Rostov detention center, start a fire there, free inmates, and demand that the Russian authorities end the war. In his closing remarks, Bondarenko said Sinchenko had been transferred from SIZO-5 to Taganrog two months before the alleged takeover, meaning he could not have taken part.
Prosecutors have requested 25 years for Makarenko, 28 years for Papenko, and 30 years for Sinchenko, with the first seven years of his sentence to be served in prison rather than a penal colony.
Mediazona also recalled Sinchenko’s earlier history. A native of Makiivka, he was first detained in the self-proclaimed DPR in 2016 on suspicion of bombing tobacco kiosks in Donetsk. In 2017 he was handed over to Ukraine in a prisoner exchange, but in 2019 he returned to Donetsk, was detained again, escaped from a temporary holding facility, and was quickly recaptured. His mother said he was repeatedly beaten in custody. He was later charged in 47 episodes; he admitted guilt only on the escape charge and insisted that he had incriminated himself under torture. On March 19, 2025, the Southern District Military Court sentenced him to 26 years in prison. Papenko received 21 years in October 2024, and Makarenko, a defendant in the Aidar case, was sentenced to 18 years in a penal colony on October 17, 2025.