Minecraft case: teenager sentenced to 5 years in prison over virtual terrorist attack

A teenager from Kansk was sentenced to five years in prison, and he will also have to pay a fine of 30 thousand rubles.  This was the decision of the 1st Eastern District Military Court in the case of playing Minecraft.  The verdict will be appealed by the lawyers of 16-year-old Nikita Uvarov - the appeal will be sent to a military court located in the village of Vlasikha near Moscow.

The court decision itself does not say anything about the child’s plans to carry out a ‘virtual terrorist attack’ on the FSS building in Minecraft.  The student was convicted under article 205.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, according to which he was trained in how to carry out terrorist activities.

At the time of the crime Uvarov was accused of, he was 14 years old.

The case of the ‘children-terrorists’ from Kansk caused a significant public resonance.  They were detained in June 2020 in connection with the distribution of leaflets in support of Azat Miftakhov, who was previously sentenced to 6 years in prison for attacking the office of the ruling political party.  During the detention, private correspondence was opened, in which the children discussed the ‘explosion’ of the FSB building in the virtual space.

The initial charges against the teenagers were articles 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and 205.3 (teaching terrorism).  Subsequently, no corpus delicti were found on the first charge and the case was dismissed, having added charges of preparation (part 2 of article 223.1 of the Criminal Code) and storage (part 2 of article 222.1 of the Criminal Code) of explosives.

So far, the lawyers have managed to get acquainted only with the operative part of the court verdict.  However, it is known that the prosecution proposed to sentence Uvarov to 9 years in prison.  Other teenagers, who were also accused of a commitment of crime, were proposed to be sentenced to more than 6 years and pay 50,000 fines each.

The court hearing of the case was closed to the press.  Participants in the process were even banned from making audio recordings.  As a result, two child accomplices, who admitted their guilt, received 3 and 4 years of probation.

The only one who did not sign anything was Uvarov, who received a real term.

Lawyers believe that the whole case was originally based on a ‘childish fear’ and the testimony of some mysterious witnesses, whom the defense calls provocateurs.  During the investigation, the teenagers repeatedly stated about ‘threats and pressure’. Uvarov stated that he was not a terrorist, but a child who intended to ‘communicate and make friends’. At the same time, Rosfinmonitoring added all three convicts to the list of terrorists and extremists.