Former municipal official Vladimir Shirokov has lost his appeal at Russia's Supreme Court against a 13-year prison sentence for taking his three-year-old son hostage in Nizhnevartovsk.
The court declared the sentence legal and refused to reduce the punishment following a cassation appeal submitted by Shirokov, the press service of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra court reported to news outlet Lenta.ru.
Shirokov was convicted of multiple criminal charges, including threat of murder under Article 119, hooliganism under Article 213, unlawful deprivation of liberty under Article 127, making a deliberately false report of an act of terrorism under Article 207, and encroachment on the life of a law enforcement officer under Article 317 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Under the ruling, he will serve the first four years of his 13-year sentence in a prison, with the remaining term to be served in a strict-regime penal colony.
Apartment shooting and hostage standoff
The incident began on March 9, 2023, when shooting broke out from the ninth-floor balcony of an apartment building in Nizhnevartovsk, a major city in Russia's Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. Police were dispatched after Shirokov's wife reported that her husband was acting in an abnormal state.
When officers from Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations attempted to force open the front door of the apartment, Shirokov opened fire on them. He subsequently claimed to officers that the entire residential building had been rigged with explosives.
As Shirokov fired shots from his balcony toward people outside, police evacuated residents from two entrances of the building. Inside the apartment, he held his three-year-old son hostage and threatened to kill him.
Shirokov issued a series of conditions for the release of his child, demanding phone calls from several people, including Alexander Bastrykin, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia. Security forces subsequently stormed the apartment, detained Shirokov, and freed the child. Officers seized two shotguns, an MP-18 and an MP-43, which Shirokov had used during the balcony shooting.
Official dismissed for alcohol abuse
Prior to the standoff, Shirokov served as the deputy head of the maintenance and property operation department in the Nizhnevartovsk city administration. He was dismissed from his municipal job due to drunkenness.
The Supreme Court of Russia is the country's court of final instance for criminal and civil cases. The Investigative Committee of Russia, referenced in Shirokov's demands, is the primary federal authority responsible for investigating major crimes across the Russian Federation.
