Russian military court gives RGGU student 19 years over planned mosque attack

The Second Western District Military Court sentenced Dmitry Bokov, a 19-year-old student at the Russian State University for the Humanities (RGGU), to 19 years in prison, in a decision announced on Tuesday, 6 October. He was convicted over the preparation of a terrorist attack on a mosque, according to Meduza and Kommersant; RBC and RIA Novosti also reported the 19-year term. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Kommersant reported that Bokov was found guilty of preparing a terrorist act by a group in prior conspiracy, participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation, undergoing training for terrorist activity and illegal circulation of weapons and ammunition as part of an organised group. Meduza listed the same articles of the criminal code. RBC described the convictions as participation in a terrorist organisation, training for terrorist activity, preparation of a terrorist act and illegal weapons storage, and said he would serve the first three years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for 21 years; the defence sought acquittal on several charges and clemency, and argued that some evidence was unlawful and that Bokov had been tortured, Kommersant reported. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]

Kommersant said Bokov, a first-year student, was detained in Moscow on 21 October 2025 on suspicion of preparing an explosion the following day at the Imam prayer house in Balashikha, outside Moscow, and of involvement in terrorist activity. Investigators at the Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee believed he had taken up radical ideas several years earlier and had been in contact with extremists from nationalist organisations via Telegram channels, from which he received instructions, the outlet reported. Meduza reported that he had been accused of trying to join the ultraright movement “Belaya Sila”, banned in Russia, and was later accused of preparing an attack on a mosque and illegally storing ammunition. [ 2 , 4 ]

Meduza, citing the outlets Ostorozhno, Novosti and Msk1 and relatives of the defendant, reported that the investigation counted as terrorist training Bokov’s attendance at a theoretical lesson on weapon construction in Patriot Park, self-defence classes in the patriotic project “Chistota” and several driving lessons at a Moscow college. Relatives said the prosecution rested on a smartphone seized during a search that did not belong to the student, and his father told Msk1 that his son was struck several times with a stun gun in the leg after refusing to give the password to his phone, and that officers wound a field telephone cable around his hands and fingers. Relatives also said officers asked them not to speak about torture at the trial and promised house arrest, while he remained in pre-trial detention until the hearing, Meduza reported. [ 2 ]

Defence lawyers told Kommersant that the verdict would be appealed but that comment was premature, since only the operative part of the decision had been read and the reasoning had yet to be received and studied. [ 4 ]