Kirill Barannik

Resident of Crimea, Master of Sports in orienteering. On the 30th May 2023, FSB officers detained him on the embankment in Simferopol, putting a bag on his head. The young man was taken for interrogation, during which he confessed to committing sabotage in the settlement of Pochtovoi, on the 23rd of February. Later, Barannik reported that the law enforcement officers threatened to kill his mother and tortured him several times - on the day of detention, on the night of 6th and 10th of June. According to the young man, once the officers demanded him to confess to blowing up the railway near the village of Chistenkoye, but he refused to do so. "First they tortured me with electric shock, connecting electric terminals to my fingers, toes, earlobes and buttocks. I was threatened to be sexually assaulted with a stick, then they beat my torso and head with their hands and feet," was how Barannik described what had happened. His lawyer confirmed that he saw burns, swelling and bruises on the body of his client.

In January 2024, it became known that Barannik was accused of high treason and participation in the activity of a terrorist organisation. There are seven other people in the case, who Barannik claims to not know. The investigation claims that the terrorist organisation was preparing an assassination attempt on the head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, and other "high-ranking officials of the Republic".

The Avtozak LIVE project claims that back in late 2023, Barannik was offered to testify against the other defendants but he refused, after which the charges against him were increased in severity.

According to the latest information, Barannik was accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist group, not an organisation, and, in addition to the articles mentioned above, he was charged with possession and smuggling of explosives, committing a terrorist act and undergoing training for terrorist activity.