A court in Siberia has passed a new sentence against Maksym Vorobiov, a Ukrainian political prisoner abducted from occupied Melitopol and sentenced, in 2024, to 16 years’ maximum-security imprisonment on flawed ‘terrorism’ charges. Russia has, on several occasions, staged second or even third ‘trials’ of Ukrainian political prisoners or prisoners of war in order to pass even longer sentences. The pretext this time could not have been more absurd, with 35-year-old Vorobiov sentenced to an additional one year and four months over a tattoo on his body.
The second ruling was passed on 29 April 2026, with it coming to light only when Mediazona checked the official website of the Minusin municipal court in Krasoyarsk region. Vorobiov was found guilty of the repeat demonstration of something claimed to be an ‘extremist symbol’, under Article 282.4 § 1 of Russsia’s criminal code. It seems that Vorobiov had already been fined 1,000 roubles back in April 2025 over supposed ‘demonstration of an extremist symbol’. The sentence that time was passed by Oksana Anatolievna Gornakova with the charge (Article 20.3 § 1) at least only under Russia’s code of so-called ‘administrative offences’. It was claimed that he had shown other prisoners a tattoo in the form of two 8-pointed stars with black and white points. This is apparently considered by the FSB to be the symbol of ‘AYE’, or ‘Prisoners’ code is unite’, some kind of informal organization of Russian criminals, mostly consisting of children and teenagers. The organization or vague movement was declared ‘extremist’ in 2020 by Russia’s constitutional court. Vorobiov on that occasion rejected the charge. The ruling, passed on 29 April 2026 by ‘judge’ Liudmyla Anatolievna Gavryliuk, asserts that Vorobiov had failed “to draw conclusions” and remove the tattoo (which would hardly be easy in Russian captivity) or cover it with clothing (which may well also not be easy in prison conditions). The prosecution claimed that he had shown the tattoo to three cellmates on several occasions.
The additional one year and four months was added to the remaining sentence, with this now 13 years and five months. The first six months and 21 days of this combined sentence is in a prison, the harshest of Russian penal institutions, with the rest in a maximum-security prison colony. This is probably because the first three years in a prison of the original sentence had not yet been fully served.
As reported, two Ukrainians from occupied Melitopol - Maksym Vorobiov (b. 3 February 1991) and Maksym Timofieiev were abducted by the Russians in August 2023 and ultimately received huge sentences on essentially identical charges.
On 22 October 2024, ‘judge’ Pavel Yurievich Gubarev from the Southern District Military Court in Rostov sentenced Maksym Vorobiov to 16 years’ maximum-security imprisonment, with the first three years in a prison. A massive 500 thousand rouble fine was also imposed.
The charges were of ‘acts of terrorism’, under Article 205 § 2 of Russsia’s criminal code; of ‘involvement in a terrorist organization’ (Article 205.4 § 2); of ‘abetting terrorist activities’ (Article 205.1) and of ‘illegally obtaining, possessing and carrying explosive devices and substances’ (Article 222.1 § 4).
Vorobiov admitted the charges, speaking movingly in court about his 9-year-old son and wanting to be there for his childhood. Any such ‘confessions’ should be treated with caution, and not only because of the torture generally used to extract them. It is also possible that Vorobiov was promised a lighter sentence if he did not dispute the charges. If so, he was deceived, with the 16-year sentence shorter than that passed against Maksym Timofieiev, but only by four years.
On 27 January 2025, ‘judge’ Valery Sergeevich Opanasenko from the Southern District Military Court in Rostov sentenced Timofieiev to 20 years’ maximum-security imprisonment, with the first three years to be in a prison; the remainder in a prison colony. He was fined 600 thousand roubles. There were a reasonable number of court hearings which may mean that Timofieiev denied the charges, with this likely to be the reason that his sentence was even longer than Vorobiov’s, although it was the latter who was supposed to have drawn Timofieiev in to the alleged plot.
Both were claimed to have planned and carried out ‘terrorist acts’ by blowing up locomotive engines at a Melitopol depot. They were supposed to have taken homemade explosive devices from a secret hiding place on 5 April 2023 and attached one of these devices to a petrol tank of a locomotive, setting a timer in motion. The court report states that this was guarded territory, yet the two are alleged to have succeeded in carrying out that explosion and two others, on 21 April 2023 and on 12 June 2023, without being caught. Timofieiev was said to have been seized on 22 August 2023.
Russia’s use of railways, including from Russia and Belarus, for its war of aggression against Ukraine has led to a revival of the partisan resistance seen during the Second World War against the Nazi invaders. It is quite likely that the depot in question is being used by the invaders for war purposes, and was, most certainly, a legitimate target. The invaders have, however, persisted in claiming that Ukrainians opposing their invasion and annexation, and seeking to defend their country, are ‘terrorists’. One of their victims has now been further persecuted for a supposedly ‘extremist’ tattoo.
