Anarchist Black Cross

On April 25, 2024, the 1st District Military Court in a visiting session in Chita sentenced the antifascist Alexander Snezhkov to 6 years, and the antifascist Lyubov Lizunova to 3.5 years in prison. Snezhkov was found guilty under the article on vandalism motivated by political hostility because of a graffiti "Death to the regime". Both were convicted under articles on calls to extremism and terrorism. 

Welcome to our latest news compilation on imprisoned anarchists, featuring the rescue of Denis Kozak, the release of Lev Skoryakin, the new sentence for Azat Mifthakov, the ongoing case of Yuri Mikheev and the significant case of the Chita anarchists.

For this year’s International Anarchist Prisoner Solidarity Week, Freedom interviewed the Anarchist Black Cross-Moscow to discuss their long history in Russia supporting imprisoned Russian anarchists, the challenges they face under Putin’s regime and their work during the war on Ukraine.

According to Solidarity Zone, the lawyer Igor Popovsky visited Ruslan Siddiqui in the Moscow detention centre SIZO-5 and received a confirmation from him that the report by TASS about the anarchist's desire to go to fight on the side of the Russian Federation was a lie.

The compilation of music in support of prisoners. In 2022, punks and anti-fascists from Siberia and the Urals were tortured by police to fabricate a case. They are accused of terrorism, but they did not use any violence. Confessions were extracted with torture of electric shocks, strangulation with a bag, beatings and threats of rape with a mop. Antifascists face huge prison sentences

We call on all those who are not indifferent to support the fundraising campaign to pay for the lawyers of Roman and other defendants of the "Tyumen case". Today, 1st of January is the last day you may donate!

Six anarchists from Russia have been held in pre-trial detention for a year on spurious charges of creating a "terrorist community". According to Russian law, our comrades face a total of 5 to 15 years of imprisonment for the charged articles, and 15 to 30 years of life imprisonment for organizing or leading a "terrorist community". The main proof of guilt is a confession given under torture.

The last day of the fundraising campaign for Tyumen case is January 1st. Unless goal is reached, none of the money is delivered for our comrades.

Nikita is an anti-fascist from Surgut, a straight-A student and a vegetarian, very intelligent and always faithful to principles. Nick dreams of becoming a surgeon, and studied at Surgut University, but dropped out because of the inability of the university to organize the educational process, because of bureaucratic delays and imperfections of the education system, which he could not put up with. He studied a thousand books on physiology, history, politics, and art. Nick initiated the creation of a public libertarian library, his first non-profit educational project.

The anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui is accused of causing an explosion, on a railway used to transport military equipment and fuel to the Russian army in Ukraine. The result was the derailment of 19 carriages of a goods train in the Ryazan region. There were no casualties, although the driver’s assistant sustained non-serious injuries. Russian Railways assessed the damage at €300.000. Ruslan has been charged with committing a terrorist act, and possession of explosive material.

Danil is a convinced anti-fascist from Yekaterinburg, a loving husband and devoted friend, the soul of any company. He is one of the best veterinarians in Yekaterinburg, specializing as an orthopedic surgeon. Before his arrest, he worked in two veterinary clinics. Being a leading specialist in veterinary surgery, he constantly attended scientific conferences, improved his qualifications in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and mastered modern technologies in surgery and endoscopy. Danil trained veterinary specialists in Surgut.

Anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui, accused of rail line disruption and drone attack on a military airport in Ryazan Oblast, was transferred from SIZO “Kapotnya” at the outskirts of Moscow to “Matrosskaya Tishina”. As the antiwar human rights initiative “Solidarity zone” writes, Siddiqui himself informed a friend in a letter about the transfer.

New address for letters and parcels:

Recently, the defendants in the «Tyumen case» have received the final version of the charges. According to the support group, in letters to relatives and friends they write that the investigation committee has added two further offenses to the «terrorism» charge:

• «the illicit manufacture of explosives as part of an organized criminal group» (part 3 of article 223.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which envisages between fifteen and twenty years of deprivation of liberty

Yura is an antifascist and opponent of authoritarianism from Yekaterinburg, detained on August 31, 2022.

He is engaged in Thai boxing and studies computer technologies of graphic design. Yura is a talented freelance designer, recently he has been doing 3D modeling and drawing models for games and cartoons.

Help the defendants of the "Tyumen case" in their fight for freedom!

Firefund.net calls everyone to support the crowdfunding to pay the lawyers for the defendants in the "Tyumen case". Deadline is 1th of January 2024.

At the end of November, the anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui was arrested on suspicion of organising the derailment of a goods train in Ryazan province. On 2 December, the Dorogomilovsky district court in Moscow sent Ruslan to pre-trial detention.

Acts of railway sabotage are now quite common in Russia. Partisans use these to block the delivery of military supplies to the armed forces operating on Ukrainian territory.

Tomorrow, December 2 at 17.00 in Berlin (Kadterschmiede, RIGAER STRASSE 94) will start a first presentation about Ilya Shakursky. Ilya is a Russian political prisoner, participant of the Network Case, anarchist, anti-fascist and eco-activist. On February 10, 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security facility and also to a fine of 50,000 rubles. The investigation believes that he was the organizer of the “Network terrorist cell”. Ilya pleaded not guilty in court.

Deniz is an anti-fascist from Tyumen and was detained on August 30, 2022, with his friend Kirill Brik. (Kirill Brik signed a pre-trial agreement with the investigation, so the support team does not pay for his lawyer's services).

On November 25 and 26, the Anarchist Book Fair is taking place in Amsterdam (Plantage Doklaan 8-12); in addition to books, various horizontal groups will give presentations and workshops on these days.

Anti-War Human Rights Initiative Solidarity zone will take a table at the fair, where you can buy T-shirts, scarves, posters, badges and other merch.

We share translation of an open letter written by defendant of the "Tyumen case" Danil Chertykov in detention. He talks about the difficulties he had to face in SIZO-1 of Tyumen and compared the penal system to the digestive system. The letter was translated specifically for our website.

In September, Yura Neznamov had to fight for his health and medical care. A neoplasm appeared on his leg. Later it turned out to be a small benign tumor. All complaints about his health were ignored by the doctors of SIZO-1 in Tyumen (where the defendants in the "Tyumen case" are kept). The lawyer wrote a large number of complaints and obtained medical care for Yura. 

Drawing by Nikita Oleynik