Russian Teens Handed Prison Sentences for Plotting to Blow Up Building in Minecraft

pcmag.com:

Three teenagers in Russia have been handed lengthy prison sentences for plotting to blow up a Federal Security Services (FSB) building in Minecraft.

As The Moscow Times reports, Nikita Uvarov, Denis Mikhailenko, and Bogdan Andreyev hail from Kansk in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region. All three were 14 when arrested back in June 2020 after it was discovered they were handing out leaflets with the slogan "the FSB is the main terrorist" written on them. Those same leaflets offered support for mathematician Azat Miftakhov who is serving a six year prison sentence on hooliganism charges (and who Russia deems an anarchist).

The arrests allowed each of the teenager's phones to be searched, which uncovered the plot to blow up a virtual FSB building in Minecraft. According to RadioFreeEurope, the trio were accused of developing a game to bomb the FSB building and carry out terrorist acts as retaliation for imprisoning activists the Russian authorities label as terrorists. There was also video footage stored on the phones of them throwing Molotov cocktails at a wall. Combined, it was enough to bring charges related to terrorist activity against all three suspects.

Surprisingly, Mikhailenko and Andreyev pleaded guilty to the single charge of "undergoing training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities." In return, they received three and four year suspended sentences. Uvarov decided to plead not guilty, though, which saw him placed in a pre-trial detention center where he claims to have "been subjected to mental and physical pressure to confess his guilt." That alleged pressure didn't work, but Uvarov was handed a more severe sentence of five years in a penal colony.

In his closing statement in court, Uvarov reiterated he