Solidarity with comrades in France: The December 8th case
What happened?
Hello, it is Saturday, and we are continuing our podcast "Trends of order and chaos". This is episode 43. Of course, you know perfectly well what is the main topic of the last week.
Yesterday, on February 21, an extraordinary meeting of the Russian Security Council was held. As part of this theatrical act, Putin forced his closest servants to publicly “ask” him to recognize the independence of the so-called “people’s republics” of the Luhansk People’s Republic [LPR] and Donetsk People’s Republic [DPR] in eastern Ukraine.
On Thursday, February 10, a Russian court handed down sentences for terrorism to three teenagers from the Siberian town of Kansk. The boys were arrested in the summer of 2020 for posting leaflets with political slogans on the local FSB building. After searching their phones and uncovering a “plot” to blow up a virtual rendering of an FSB building in the video game Minecraft, investigators charged the teens with making explosives and training to participate in terrorist activities.
The sentence in the case of the Kansk teenagers will be given on Thursday, the 10th of February 2022 at 3PM in Krasnoyarsk time (11 AM Moscow time, 8 AM GMT). Three anarchists from the Krasnoyarsk region are accused of “studying terrorism” and storing explosives. Nikita Uvarov, Denis Mikhayuulenko and Bogdan Andreev were arrested in the summer of 2020 for spreading leaflets that criticised the state, and for supporting political prisoners. At that time they were 14 years old.
This time around there's both good news and bad news, so lets start with the good ones.
Maxim ”Hadad” Smolnikov released from remand in custody
Although the online magazine "Assembly" is active since March 30, 2020 - as soon as there was a feeling in the air around that this hateful status quo had finally cracked - we consider September 6 to be the beginning of its real impact on the social life of Kharkiv.
The family of Maksim Smolnikov needs financial support to cover lawyer costs and the transfer to a pre-trial detention center. If you want to help, please transfer money to the ABC Moscow PayPal (abc-msk@riseup.net) or if you are in Russia directly to the family account: 4274320068140352.
Ilya Romanov needs support for rehabilitation
Ilya Romanov has been an activist in the anarchist movement since 1987. He was sentenced to prison twice, for 10 years in Ukraine in 00’s and 7 years in Russia in the last decade. In 2019 he almost died as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage. Due to the delay in the medical intervention, he lost the capacity to move the right side of his body.
This blog as a podcast: Spotify, Soundcloud
This blog as video.
We got in touch with several anarchist comrades to talk about the recent protests on the streets of different cities in Russia: looked into political events of 2020 and how they brought people to the situation with protests.
With the comrades we managed to clarify if Navalny is a nazi and the whole protest should be ignored by the anarchists or leftists. And of course we talked about anarchists and their participation in protest movement.
Listen to our radio stream:
For over three months, people in Belarus have been fighting against the authoritarian regime. In 26 years, dictator Lukashenko has built a system aimed at suppressing any political life. The coronavirus and a number of economic problems have greatly changed what is happening in the country. In a few months, Belarusians have learned to self-organize. The presidential elections provoked a wave of the largest protest in the country's history! But the tyrant does not want to give up his throne. At least 5 people were killed (some died under strange circumstances).
Azerbaijani anarchist Giyas Ibrahimov was detained by security services for alleged anti-war statements yesterday.
In the now-deleted live video he posted on his social media account, Ibrahimov broadcasted security forces entering his flat in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku and refusing to tell him why he was being detained.
Network Trial defendant Viktor Filinkov tells a joke: “A programmer, a businessman, and an industrial climber planned to overthrow the government.”
The Penza Case in Petersburg: Closing Statements
Mediazona
June 18, 2020
In April 2017, a bombing took place in the Saint Petersburg metro. The explosion killed 16 people and injured 103.
According to the pre-trial investigation, the suicide attack was carried out by Akbarzhon Dzhalilov and organized by the “Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad” jihadist group consisting of Uzbek fighters, active in Syria, previously with support from Al-Qaeda. The group however, did not claim responsibility for the attack.
On Saturday 11th of April, relatives took Ilya Romanov, anarchist prisoner from LPU-21. Prosecutor did not appeal decision of the court of Zubovo-Polyanski of Republic of Mordovia, which has ordered to release Romanov for basis of his health. We congratulate Ilya, and everyone who was fighting for his release from prison!
Court had decided 31st of March that Romanov should be released, as he was paralyzed in the colony after stroke.
We must not forget the anarchists and anti-fascists suffering repression in Russia! We are calling for people to take action of all forms to express support for these prisoners, to protest the prison system, and to spread information about the use of torture as an instrument of repression in Russia.
A Russian court has issued harsh sentences to seven antifascist and anarchist activists in a controversial domestic terrorism case marred by claims that investigators tortured the defendants to elicit confessions.
On 27th July, my friend Vladislav Barabanov took part in the rally for fair elections and permission of the independent candidates in Moscow. He was one of 1,500 detainees at this action and one of 13 people accused of criminal offense.
"Article 212 case " or "the Moscow case" is another example of lawlessness in Russia's everyday life. We wish to tell the whole world of people dear to us getting battered and imprisoned for their active citizenship.
In Moscow, at the end of August 10, plainclothes police officers arrested the anarchist Alexei Polikhovich on his way home from Russia’s largest opposition demonstration since 2011. A local Moscow court formally charged Alexei with “petty hooliganism” and sentenced him to 13 days in jail. The arrest stemmed from a combative and passionate speech Alexei gave to thousands in Moscow that day.
In September 2024, I gave a presentation in Dresden about struggles against the right-wing government in Finland. Freedom published a text based on that presentation last September, but due to character limitations I had to skip an introduction to the Finnish party system. This background is...
Repression targets Chita anarchists already jailed for war resistance and anti-regime graffiti The regional prosecutor’s office for the Trans-Baikal region in eastern Siberia has submitted a petition to a local court to recognize the “Trans-Baikal Left Association” as a terrorist...
Thousands of Russians have been fighting against the invasion to Ukraine. During first month of protests against the war, 15 000 people were detained. Small street actions are still sporadically taking place, although they are heavily persecuted. More than 300 people have been imprisoned for anti-...
Translation: volunteers of Autonomous Action. «» The history of solidarity networks in Russia began in 2013, when activists from Autonomous Action and Antijob, most likely members of the Barnaul cell, found information on the internet about the Seattle Solidarity Networks. After studying...