Photographer Alexander Strukov, who was arrested because of the comments in the telegram, said that the ex-mercenary of the PMC Wagner, who was with him in the Moscow pre-trial detention center, offered the cellmates a block of cigarettes for beating him. Strukov's words are reported by the First Department.
As a result, none of the 18 people next to the photographer and the mercenary agreed to be beaten for cigarettes. At the same time, lawyers write, a fight broke out. It is not known what caused it, and whether any of those arrested were injured.
Before that, Strukov said that six military men and mercenaries accused of robbery, kidnapping, extortion and causing harm were placed in his cell health. One of these cellmates, according to the photographer, took four issues of the Prison Bulletin from him, promising that the creators of the publication would go to the colony for “destabilization and anti-Russian activities.”
Later, this man was removed from Strukov's cell.
The photographer was arrested even before the start of the war in Ukraine — in January 2022, he was charged with an article on incitement to terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, he posted comments on social networks calling for terrorism, including threats to “persons of Russian nationality.”