The Samara District Court of Samara sent saxophonist Andrei Shabanov to a pre-trial detention center for two months. This is reported by “Protocol. Samara» and «Idel.Realii» with reference to the musician's acquaintances.
A case was opened against Shabanov for calls for terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). The reason for the criminal prosecution, according to Idel.Realii, was posts on social networks in which the saxophonist spoke about the actions of the Russian armed forces.
The case was opened while Shabanov was serving administrative arrest. On March 22, a court in Samara arrested the musician for 14 days in the case of petty hooliganism (Part 2 of Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code). As stated in the court decision, the report was drawn up due to the fact that the detainee, while in a public place, “expressed himself with gross obscene language”, “insultingly pestered citizens” and did not obey the police officers.
Shabanov’s acquaintances in in a conversation with Idel.Realii, they reported that when the musician was serving an administrative arrest, security forces convinced his mother not to try to visit her son in a special detention center — they assured the woman that he did not want to talk to her.
On March 21, police conducted a search at Shabanov’s house—according to security officials, they were looking for explosives. At the same time, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened the home computer and checked the saxophonist’s accounts on social networks; later they seized the equipment from the house. During the search, the Samarian himself was with friends; after his arrest, his phone was also confiscated.
The publication “Idel.Realii” writes that at the meeting to select a preventive measure, Shabanov was very depressed. “He told his mother with tears in his eyes and trembling that he would be imprisoned,” the publication quotes the interlocutor as saying. The Samarets have a second group disability, suffer from autoimmune diseases and need proper medical treatment. Despite this, the court did not choose a more lenient preventive measure for him.
In March 2022, Shabanov was sentenced to a fine of 60 thousand rubles in the case of the rehabilitation of Nazism (parts 1 and 3 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code). Then the reason for criminal prosecution was that the musician tried to upload a photo of Adolf Hitler to the Immortal Regiment website and published posts criticizing Victory Day on VKontakte.