The Baltic Fleet Military Court in Kaliningrad has sentenced 68-year-old Igor Odintsov to six years in a penal colony on charges of “publicly calling for terrorism.” In September, he tried to avoid a prison term in Russia by swimming across the Neman River and seeking asylum in Lithuania. Lithuanian border guards detained Odintsov and returned him to Russia.
A news release on the court’s website dated Oct. 1 identifies the defendant only by the first letter of his surname: “O.” The independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reported that the description could only match the case of pensioner Igor Odintsov, a resident of the town of Neman, located just across the Neman River from Lithuania.
“O.” was sentenced under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of Russia’s Criminal Code, which covers public calls for terrorism. The case reached the military court in September, but proceedings were suspended in the middle of the month after the defendant fled.
On Sept. 18, Lithuania’s border service reported that a “68-year-old Russian citizen” had swam across the river into Lithuania the previous day. Local border guards detained him at about 1:50 p.m., and he asked for political asylum. However, that evening at around 7 p.m., he was returned to Russia through a border checkpoint:
“There was no information indicating that he faced danger, had any special status, or might be admitted to the European Union, and he did not fall into the category of vulnerable persons… A decision was made not to admit him,” Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service said at the time.
Four days later, the court proceedings resumed. On Oct. 1, the man was sentenced. Sigitas Šamborskis, head of the Lithuanian community in Kaliningrad, confirmed to the Lithuanian newspaper Lietuvos Rytas that it was Odintsov who had been convicted earlier in the month:
“This is yet another betrayal. It’s very disgraceful on Lithuania’s part. It’s not just disgraceful, it’s downright criminal,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
