Cover photo: Ibragim Orudzhev in court.
On Oct. 31, Moscow’s Second Western District Military Court sentenced 23-year-old former Belgorod State University student Ibragim Orudzhev to 16 years in prison on charges of “receiving terrorist training” and “preparing a terrorist act.” Prosecutors had initially requested an 18-year sentence, the independent Russian outlet Mediazona reported, citing its correspondent in the courtroom.
Orudzhev will spend the first three years of his sentence in prison, with the remainder to be served in a high-security penal colony.
The former student, recognized as a political prisoner by the Nobel Prize-winning Russian NGO Memorial, said he was tortured by police while in pre-trial detention in order to coerce a confession.
“What I remember, no one can ever take from me. I have not admitted guilt and will not do so. I believe the charges are a result of officials being forced to fulfill certain obligations,” Orudzhev said in his final statement in court.
Orudzhev was detained in Moscow in the fall of 2023 after photographing the operating hours of a military enlistment office in the city’s southwestern Akademichesky District. His defense argued that he was visiting a nearby veterinary clinic and photographed the office’s operating hours because he planned to register for military service. Orudzhev volunteered to share the photos with the police, and his lawyer later provided a receipt from the clinic in court.
The prosecution, however, argued Orudzhev was planning a terrorist act — and that he “carried out reconnaissance of the area using a mobile phone with the intent to commit arson.” A prior report by state-owned news outlet TASS cited law enforcement officials as saying Orudzhev was “studying” the facility “to determine the most effective way to set it on fire.”
It claimed that Orudzhev decided to receive terrorist training — “at an unspecified time, in an unspecified place, and under unspecified circumstances” — under the influence of the Ukrainian organizations “Azov” and “Right Sector.” Both are Ukrainian nationalist groups that the Kremlin references in order to justify its ongoing invasion of Ukraine — and its supposed goal of “denazification.”
The prosecution substantiated its allegations of “training” by producing explosives and demolition manuals they had apparently found on the student’s phone — all of which are freely available for purchase in Russia, as per Mediazona. Orudzhev’s notebook also allegedly contained a page labeled “Burn the Military Enlistment Office,” accompanied by instructions for making a Molotov cocktail.
Chemistry expert Elena Polonskaya noted in court that making explosives from these manuals would require “specialized knowledge” — though she added that some gifted individuals may find “just reading the book” sufficient. Orudzhev, as per his defense lawyers, was no such individual, as he averaged a C in his high school chemistry class.
Orudzhev was also found to have been subscribed to Ukrainian Telegram channels and, according to a written statement he gave the FSB — Russia's state security service — had filled out a questionnaire with the “I Want To Live” bot. He claimed to have done so in order to avoid risking his life if sent to the front lines.
The “I Want To Live” (“Hochu Zhit”) project is a Ukrainian government initiative launched in September 2022 to facilitate the safe surrender of Russian military personnel during the ongoing invasion. Operated by Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the program provides a 24-hour hotline and a Telegram chatbot, allowing Russian soldiers and their families to receive guidance on how to surrender safely.