The Court of Cassation overturned the verdict of Askhabali Alibekov, a native of Dagestan and the author of the YouTube channel “Wild Paratrooper,” accused of discrediting the Russian army. The case was submitted to the Primorsky District Court of Novorossiysk for retrial.

This court in March 2023 sentenced Alibekov to a year and two months in prison under the article on repeated discrediting of the Russian army. The man advocated peace after the start of the “SVO”. According to the lawyer, the defendant wanted to save his son from death in the war with Ukraine. In 2018, he served in the Black Sea Fleet and called for a boycott of the Russian presidential elections. Human rights project “Support for political prisoners. Memorial recognized Askhabali Alibekov as a political prisoner.

Currently, the former soldier is in a pre-trial detention center. On February 20, about 15 security officials detained him in Kazan. Alibekov reported that he came there to become an observer in the presidential elections. The police attacked him, pushed him to the ground and beat him in the body and face. A criminal case was opened against Alibekov on charges of using violence against police officers.