A third Russian activist has been released from prison after serving six years in the high-profile Set (Network) case, which rights defenders and opposition activities have called "fabricated."
Arman Sagynbaev, who was arrested in 2017 along with several other activists, was released from a penal colony on November 5.
Russian investigators said the Network group planned to organize a series of explosions in Russia during the presidential election and the World Cup soccer tournament in 2018 "to destabilize the situation" in the country and to organize an armed mutiny.
Rights activists have said the charges are false. Some of those arrested have claimed they were tortured while in custody. The Investigative Committee has rejected the claims.
In June 2020, a court in St. Petersburg sentenced two suspects in the case, Yuly Boyarshinov and Viktor Filinkov, to 5 1/2 years and 7 years in prison respectively. Boyarshinov’s sentence was later cut by three months.
In February 2020, a court in another Russian city, Penza, sentenced Sagynbaev and six other activists of the group to prison terms of between six years and 18 years after convicting them of terrorism.
The group members were arrested in 2017-2018 for allegedly creating a terrorist group with cells in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Penza, and Omsk, as well as in neighboring Belarus.
Belarusian authorities told RFE/RL at the time that they weren’t aware of a Network cell existing in Belarus.
Amnesty International has called the terror charges "a figment of the Russian security services' imagination...fabricated in an attempt to silence these activists."
Two men sentenced in the case, Boyarshinov and Igor Shishkin were released in April 2023 and August 2021, respectively, after serving their terms. Shishkin fled Russia after his release.