Three defendants in the “Baymak case” have been sentenced to up to four and a half years in prison.

The Ustinovsky District Court in Udmurtia has sentenced Aynur Karimov and two other defendants in the “Baymak case” to up to four and a half years in a general-regime penal colony. RusNews reported this.

Karimov and one other defendant received four years and two months in prison each, while the third was sentenced to four and a half years. The prosecutor had requested eight years’ imprisonment for the men.

All those convicted were found guilty of participating in mass unrest (Part 2, Article 212 of the Criminal Code) and of using violence against representatives of the authorities (Part 1, Article 318 of the Criminal Code). Case files show that on 17 January 2024, at the square near Baymak District Court, Karimov “grabbed the leg of an unidentified law enforcement officer, who had fallen to the ground as a result of the actions of other participants in the mass unrest, after which he forcibly tried to drag him out of the cordon.” According to the prosecution, he also threw “chunks of frozen snow” at law enforcement officers at least five times and pushed an OMON officer, causing him to lose his balance and fall, “experiencing physical pain.” Karimov does not admit guilt and refused to testify.

Another defendant was accused of attempting to pull the helmet off a Russian National Guard officer, as well as hitting his shield and snatching it, causing the officer to “experience pain.” In one of his first interrogations, he said he tried to seize the shields so that law enforcement officers could not detain people. The third convicted person, according to the prosecution, kicked and punched the National Guard officer’s shield and knocked a police officer to the ground, causing him to hit his head.

The trial was held behind closed doors.

OVD-Info has provided detailed coverage of what is happening to those involved in the “Baymak case” and how the criminal prosecution has affected their families.

• Aynur Karimov has three sons: the eldest has finished his first year of school, the middle child goes to kindergarten, and the youngest is about a year old. His wife said that since 2015 he has suffered from a spinal hernia, for which he saw a doctor once a year to get a painkiller injection at the site. In 2017 he lost the use of his legs and could not walk for a while.
• On 17 January 2024, near Baymak District Court—a court building in Baymak, a city in Bashkortostan—where the verdict was being handed down to Bashkir activist Fail Alsynov, a public gathering in support of him took place. On that day, Alsynov was sentenced to four years in prison under charges of inciting hatred following his speech at a protest against the development of the Irandyk mountain ridge. Several thousand people gathered outside the court. Police responded with a heavy crackdown, which was followed first by a wave of administrative cases and then criminal charges. At least 69 people were sent to pre-trial detention over the mass unrest charges. One of them reported being severely beaten in custody. Another defendant died after being detained—his family were not told the cause of death or given the records. Yet another protest participant took their own life due to pressure from law enforcement officers.