37-year-old copywriter and former punk musician Vladimir Bolobolov was placed in pretrial detention on September 19 on charges of possessing explosives under Article 222.1 Part 1 of the Russian Criminal Code. Before that, his relatives and lawyer say, unidentified men abducted him, kept him for three days with a bag over his head, and tortured him with electric shocks. The defense believes FSB officers may have been involved.
According to lawyer Oskar Cherdzhiev, Bolobolov was taken on August 27 from a coffee shop near his home in Reutov. The next day, his partner Anastasia Gorlova saw strangers inside his rented apartment. She says police who arrived were shown FSB identification and told there was a court order authorizing a search. Later, Bolobolov was allowed to make one phone call asking that his cat be collected, after which he was again led to a car with his head covered.
Cherdzhiev says, citing his client, that Bolobolov was held in a basement and severely tortured with electric current. A medical examination reportedly documented dozens of fresh injuries and marks from electric shocks on his collarbones. Bolobolov denies any guilt.
On August 30, the defense says, he was found at the Dorogomilovo police station, where officers first processed him for petty hooliganism. After paying a 500-ruble fine, he was released, but instead of leaving the country he went with his lawyer to record his injuries. He was then detained again, Cherdzhiev says, a new protocol was drawn up, and he was given 15 days of administrative arrest.
After serving that term at the Sakharovo detention center, relatives say Bolobolov was again driven away in the same vehicle. Later, during a warrantless apartment search, the defense says, officers found an item in a drawer that investigators described as an explosive device. Bolobolov said he had never seen the object before, and his lawyer insists it was planted.
Investigators claim that by February 2023 at the latest, Bolobolov had received the coordinates of a cache from an unidentified person and then kept the explosive at home. The defense notes that the case file does not even contain fingerprint analysis. Bolobolov’s friends, colleagues, and partner describe him as a successful advertising professional with no record of political activism and say the case has been fabricated. Journalist Ilya Azar spoke with Bolobolov’s lawyer and acquaintances for Novaya Gazeta Kazakhstan.