Opening the cell door turned out to be easier than easy.
In Yekaterinburg, a court began hearing the case of two inmates who escaped from a detention center. One of the men was apprehended by law enforcement a week after the escape, while the other was caught two weeks later. Now, an additional sentence will be added to their terms for terrorism. Furthermore, the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) demanded 700,000 rubles (over 7,000 euros) from the Ural residents as compensation for the efforts spent on their search.
The Verkh-Isetsky District Court of Yekaterinburg resumed the consideration of the case against 25-year-old Ivan Koryukov and 24-year-old Alexander Cherepanov for their escape from the detention center after the New Year holidays.
The first hearing took place on December 16, but the victim — the owner of the summer cottage where the inmates were hiding — did not attend, and the hearing was postponed. The state prosecutor only managed to outline the essence of the case — the Ural residents are being tried for escape and theft with illegal entry into a dwelling.
This time, on January 15, during the hearing, it was possible to interrogate the victim and review the case materials. The next hearing will take place on January 28 at 11:00 local time (9:00 Moscow time), the media reported from the court.
The defendants are long-time friends. Cherepanov is from the city of Nizhnie Sergi, Koryukov is from Kirovgrad, and in recent years both lived in Yekaterinburg, often gathering to play football. They initially ended up behind bars in May 2023 for attempting to set fire to a military enlistment office.
According to the investigation, the friends acted in the interests of the Legion "Freedom of Russia" (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation). They received their assignment through a group in a messenger app. The client demanded a video report of the arson and promised to transfer 40,000 rubles afterward.
As the defendants claimed, they did not plan to carry out the task — they wanted to deceive the curator and get the money. They were apprehended at the crime scene with a five-liter canister of gasoline.
In October 2024, the Central District Military Court found the friends guilty of attempting a terrorist act. Cherepanov was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony, while Koryukov received nine years and six months.
The Ural residents appealed the verdict, but the appellate and cassation instances upheld the decision. Until September 2025, the young men remained in the detention center, awaiting transfer to the penal colony.
According to Koryukov's lawyer, Natalia Nekrasova, the convicted individuals experienced psychological stress in the detention center, as the wait for the appeal of the verdict dragged on for more than a year. This prompted them to decide to organize an escape.
"We didn’t meet a single staff member"
According to the investigation, the inmates began preparing for the escape as early as August. Cherepanov found several pieces of wire on the premises and made a lock pick. With its help, on September 1, 2025, around 2:40 AM, he opened the door of the cell through the food window — for some reason, it was left open.
From there, the inmates exited to the walking area, bent the tiles, climbed onto the roof, and descended down a birch tree using sheets and blankets. The entire "special operation" took them eight minutes.
In court, the state prosecutor claimed that "on the way, they managed to disable the lock and unscrew the surveillance camera." However, the day after the escape, footage allegedly from the detention center's surveillance cameras appeared online. It shows the inmates exiting the corridor of the institution's walking zone.
"They opened all the locks in the detention center, descended down the birch tree near the main entrance of the FSIN, without encountering a single staff member on their way," lawyer Natalia Nekrasova said.
The staff of the institution only discovered the disappearance of the two inmates in the morning during a routine check, and local law enforcement was immediately alerted, with descriptions of the escapees sent to police stations.
It soon became known that the regional investigative committee had opened a criminal case for negligence against the staff of the colony. The details were not disclosed by the agency; however, according to one version, the issue was not only that the staff failed to monitor the inmates — they might have had keys to the cell instead of a lock pick.
According to a prison employee, the reason such a situation was even possible was the negligence of the staff and a staffing problem.
"The story is very simple; the guys either stuffed all sorts of junk, papers, etc., into the feeder beforehand so that it wouldn’t close, or, worse, just asked the staff to leave it open for ventilation, and they were like, 'No problem, guys.' After that, it was enough for them to pry out the wire from the bunk, bend it into a 'b' shape, extend their hand, and fiddle with the lock.
If the door was not properly locked with two turns — and this rule is written next to every lock — then opening it is a matter of minutes," said the source of the publication.
Questions remain about how the detainees ended up in the same cell and why none of the staff monitored the monitors during their shift.
Initially, the main FSIN remained silent, and only two days later officially acknowledged the escape. A reward was promised for information about the whereabouts of Ivan Koryukov and Alexander Cherepanov.
"God forbid, he hanged himself"
The search for the escapees involved 270 employees from regional, city, and district law enforcement agencies. They were searched for in the city, at the cemetery, and in the nearby gardens and summer cottages.
Not far from the "Khrustalny" gardening association, 15 kilometers from the detention center, law enforcement discovered a tent and belongings — presumably, the criminals could have stayed there overnight. Gardeners and summer residents were warned that the escapees posed a danger and asked to be vigilant, reporting any strangers to the police.
As it later turned out, Koryukov and Cherepanov were hiding in abandoned houses in neighboring villages — Mednoye and the "Vizovets-5" gardening association. Some residents found traces of shoes on their plots and noted that the uninvited guests were mainly interested in household conveniences.
"They carefully removed the glass from the veranda (put it back yesterday), entered the house, washed themselves in the bathhouse, ate, washed the dishes, gathered food, and changed clothes. They didn’t damage anything except for cutting the wires from the motion sensors," said the owner of one of the houses.
From the neighbor's house, according to the investigation, the convicts took clothes. "When they were in the 'Vizovets-5' gardening association, they stole black trousers, several pairs of sneakers, a T-shirt, a baseball cap, two jackets, a charger, shorts, a music speaker, a blanket, a backpack, a hoodie, a women's windbreaker, a bag, and two pairs of glasses from a private house. The damage amounted to over seven thousand rubles," the case materials state.
They were unable to track the escapees for an entire week. Only on September 8, around 1 AM, employees of the Sverdlovsk FSIN, along with colleagues from the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, apprehended Alexander Cherepanov — about 14 km from the detention center.
As noted by law enforcement, the young man did not resist and began cooperating with the investigation. At the request of the law enforcement officers, he recorded a message to his friend: "Lynx, bro, surrender, there’s no point in running anymore. Everything will be fine." For the next week, law enforcement broadcast this recording through a loudspeaker while driving around the village near Yekaterinburg.
The residents themselves were surprised why the escapee was being watched for so many days specifically in their area. "For some reason, they think he can’t go anywhere else. But it’s unrealistic for him to sit here for a week. Well, he probably went somewhere or, God forbid, hanged himself," speculated the owner of one of the summer plots.
After 12 days of unsuccessful searches for the second criminal, the head of Detention Center No. 1, Alexey Kiselev, retired, and another 10 people received a "Warning of Incomplete Compliance with Official Duties."
Spent on the search
On the evening of September 15, Ivan Koryukov was caught in Yekaterinburg. The exact location was not specified by the FSIN.
For the group escape, the convicts face up to five years in prison. The final punishment will be determined based on the cumulative sentences — the term for this case will be fully or partially added to the term for the main sentence for terrorism.
Cherepanov fully admitted his guilt, while Koryukov only acknowledged the escape charge.
In October 2025, it became known that the FSIN also filed a lawsuit against the escapees demanding compensation for their search costs.
"Federal state institutions are requesting to recover from Cherepanov A.V. and Koryukov I.A. compensation for material damage in the form of expenses related to preventing the escape from September 1 to 8 — from Cherepanov A.V. and separately from Koryukov I.A. for the period from September 1 to 15. The total amount of recovery is 727,893 rubles and 41 kopecks," the court stated.
