Hell Behind Bars for a Teenager

Journalists from the independent publication Takie Dela recently told the story of a 14-year-old Russian girl who was arrested on terrorism charges in 2023 and spent nearly a year in a pretrial detention center, where she allegedly suffered physical and sexual abuse before being transferred to a psychiatric hospital. Despite questions about the evidence against her, the investigation continues. 

According to her mother Olga (names have been changed at the request of those involved), the girl —referred to by the pseudonym Lyuba — encountered TikTok videos about the Columbine High School shooting and subscribed to related Telegram channels. To join one closed channel, she allegedly signed a questionnaire stating her willingness to carry out a violent attack. She then bought a firecracker, divided it into three parts, detonated one piece on video, and posted it online.

Authorities accused Lyuba of joining the “international movement Columbine,” recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia, and of creating three homemade explosive devices for murder. However, an expert analysis later concluded the firecracker did not qualify as an explosive, and the Telegram channels she joined were not officially classified as terrorists. Despite these findings, Lyuba remained in custody.

During one court hearing, Lyuba reportedly displayed bruises and a bald spot, which she said were caused by repeated assaults from her cellmates. 

Acting head of Moscow Region's Correctional Colony No. 1 responded to a lawyer's statement about the beatings of his client by saying that the colony administration was aware of it. The administration had a video in which Lyuba, naked, with a sign of humiliating content around her neck, stands on a table in her cell and cries. According to her mother, a cellmate wrote the sign, and forced her to undress and stand in front of the camera. Afterwards, under threats from the administration of the pretrial detention center, the girl was forced to write a statement that this was done of her own free will, for which the administration reprimanded her.

According to Lyuba, the pressure from her cellmates began after celebrating one of their birthdays. “Katya pinched me, after which I jokingly, not wanting to offend anyone, calmly replied that it was unpleasant for me. After which all three tried to make me apologize and claimed that I had ruined their entire holiday,” the girl wrote in her statement to the police.

According to her, she was dipped head-first into the toilet, doused with urine, and then had her hair cut off. In her statement, Lyuba described how her neighbors threw tomatoes at her, slammed her head against the wall, raped her with various objects, and encouraged her to commit suicide.

After this series of incidents, Lyuba was diagnosed with a mental disorder and recommended to be placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she is still located.

Olga said her requests for house arrest have been denied. “We are terrified they will keep extending her time in the psychiatric hospital, just like they extended her pretrial detention,” she told reporters. “Some people remain here for years.”

Meanwhile, official documents show that Investigator Vozkov, who oversees Lyuba’s case, received a court ruling stating he violated Article 6.1 of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code, which requires a reasonable time frame for criminal proceedings. On December 16, 2024, a prosecutor issued an order demanding the delays in Lyuba’s case be addressed, noting that both the investigator and the head of the investigative department had been negligent.

Despite this finding, in January 2025, Investigator Vozkov was honored as one of the best investigators in the Moscow Oblast.