The Barnaul garrison military court sentenced to six and a half years in prison a major of the Russian Federal Security Service, Mikhail Zhilin, who was extradited from Kazakhstan in December last year. He was accused of desertion (Part 3 of Article 338 of the Criminal Code) and illegal border crossing (Part 1 of Article 322 of the Criminal Code), Taiga.Info reports with reference to the case file.
According to investigators, the serviceman sold his property and informed the command about his “incapacity for work”, fearing that he would be sent to the “special operation” zone. On September 27, 2022, Zhilin crossed the border, bypassing the checkpoint.
In my country blocked
present tense
In Russia, Mikhail Zhilin was responsible for government communications between President Vladimir Putin and the regions, he had access to state secrets, for this reason he was forbidden to travel outside the country.
After the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he was denied the right to be fired, but after the announcement of mobilization, the major nevertheless decided to escape: he crossed the state border with Kazakhstan and was detained by border guards, but later released. He spent some time with his family in Kazakhstan’s Semey, where he applied for political asylum, but was refused. In early December, Zhilin was arrested in the capital of Kazakhstan while trying to fly to Armenia. Then a court in Astana placed him in custody in a pre-trial detention center for 40 days.
Kazakhstan extradited Major Zhilin of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation to Russia, who fled from mobilization:
The director of the Kazakh Bureau for Human Rights, Yevgeny Zhovtis, said earlier that Kazakhstan, despite its reputational losses, extradited Zhilin to Russia because of “pressure.” “Until the refugee status is sorted out, it is impossible to deport. He lost the first and second deportation courts, and on the refugee status he lost only the first court, the second has not happened yet. In addition, there are special procedures, you can apply to the UN Human Rights Committee , which then sends “wait until we review”. There are nuances. In essence, they are now violating the Convention on the Status of Refugees,” Zhovtis said.
