Lawyer Ilya Novikov has been added to the list of «terrorists and extremists» of Rosfinmonitoring. Information about this appeared on the website of the federal agency.
This register includes defendants in cases of extremism or terrorism. Novikov was added there with a typographic «asterisk» mark, which means suspicion of terrorism. However, no official report was made about initiating a case under this article against the lawyer.
In June, a Moscow court sentenced Novikov in absentia to 8.5 years in prison in the case of military «fakes» (clause «d» of part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). The reason for the prosecution was a broadcast on the YouTube channel «Popular Politics» in April 2022, where the lawyer spoke about the involvement of the Russian army in the killings of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
In October 2023, a criminal case of treason was opened against Novikov (Article 275 of the Criminal Code). The FSB believes that he «underwent military training, participates in hostilities, and is engaged in propaganda work.»
Since 2019, Ilya Novikov, a former player on the program «What? Where? When?», has lived and worked in Kiev; in Ukraine, he received the status of a lawyer. In Russia, Novikov had a similar status, but in the summer of 2023, the Moscow Bar Association stripped Novikov of his status as a lawyer due to actions «aimed at undermining trust in him or the legal profession.»
In November 2022, the Ministry of Justice added the lawyer to the register of «foreign agents.» A week later, the Ministry of Internal Affairs put Novikov on the wanted list under a criminal article. What exactly he was charged with was not specified.