An event in support of Russian political prisoners will be held in Helsinki on October 6.
Program:
On 4 September 2023, former Moscow State University graduate student and political prisoner Azat Miftakhov was released from penal colony. On the same day Federal Security Service (FSB) has charged Miftakhov in a criminal case for «justifying terrorism». According to FSB, Azat discussed with other prisoners the war in Ukraine and the actions of the anarchist Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who caused an explosion in the FSB building and died in 2018.
At the end of each August, anarchists and anti-authoritarian activists from around the world take part in the International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners.
We call you to support political prisoners in Russia and Belarus by letters!
July 28th the First Eastern Regional Court in Khabarovsk has handed down its sentence in the case of the burning of the National Guard building in Komsomolsk on the Amur. The 51-year old taxi-driver Vladimir Zolotarev was found guilty of committing an "act of terrorism", even though no-one was harmed in the fire.
The support team of the arrested guys in the «Tyumen case» is launching a Festival of solidarity with political prisoners on the occasion of the anniversary of the arrest of our comrades. The festival will be held from August 15 to September 15, 2023.
Ivan Kudryashov is an anti-war activist who made a street art piece in the center of Tver with the text “Fuck the War.” In September 2022, he was detained by the Federal Security Service. FSB officers planted Molotov cocktails in Ivan’s apartment and tortured the activist in an attempt to pressurize him to confess to preparing the arson of a military enlistment office.
At the end of May, anarchist Alexey Rozhkov was illegally extradited from Kyrgyzstan to Russia. Without observing the procedures under Kyrgyz law and international norms, officers from the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security kidnapped Alexey and took him to the Russian Federation, where he was detained by FSB officers. The former threatened Alexei with torture, and the FSB put those threats into action — the young man told us that he had been tasered.
Dear friends, welcome to our latest update!
This is long overdue. As usual, we start with (relatively) good news. Krasnoyarsk anarchists Danil Ivanov and Ilya Vinogradov were given 5 and 3.5 years probational sentences respectively. They were accused of ”robbery”, for paying a visit to a former comrade who had been seen hanging out with Nazis. Congratulations to Danil and Ilya for dodging prison!
“In our last meeting with Azat Miftakhov it was decided to write about the pressure security forces exert on Azat, previously not brought up by the support group – reports the channel FreeAzat! We were not doing it because at the beginning of his incarceration, we heard about Azat’s unwillingness to disclose this topic – back when it was too sensitive for him. Later in the penal colony, at his suggestion, we wanted to reserve the topic in case the administration uses pressure on prisoners with (political) status."
On May 29, anti-war activist Alexey Rozhkov, who had fled from Russia to Kyrgyzstan, was extending his temporary registration in his host country. And the very next day, early in the morning, security forces broke into his home. On June 7, lawyer Kamil Isabekov visited Alexey Rozhkov in a temporary detention center in the suburbs of Yekaterinburg (the largest city in the Urals) to find out the circumstances of his transfer to Russia. Anti-war human rights initiative Solidarity Zone wrote about it.
18-year-old Mikhail Lazakovich from Tver, was detained on May 9 on suspicion of setting fire to a military recruitment center in Likhoslavl, 50 km from Tver. On the advice of his appointed lawyer, the young man did not deny his involvement in the arson. However, instead of the promised mitigation of punishment, the charge was reclassified from "attempted damage to property" to "an act of terrorism".
After being charged under the "terrorist" article (Part 1 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code), Mikhail refused to testify and plead guilty of terrorism.
Sometimes you’ll hear people say that in modern Russia, it’s a waste of money to hire a lawyer for politically motivated cases. After all, they say, the person will be found guilty either way, and they’ll still get a sentence.
Solidarity Zone explain why having a lawyer is vital for political prisoners in Russia.
The antifascist movement emerged in Russia in the late 1990s – early 2000s as a response to neo-Nazis’ violence: back then, the far-right was attacking migrants, homeless people, punks and anyone they didn’t like almost daily. Over the past couple of decades, the movement has changed significantly, having gone through murders of its participants, numerous criminal cases and now a split due to the war. Radio Svoboda (RS) recounts the story of Russian antifa.
Kirill Butylin carried out the first known arson attack on a military enlistment office following the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 28th of February 2022 the young man threw Molotov cocktails at the enlistment office in the town of Lukhovitsa in the Moscow region.
On the 4th of January 2023 32 year old Yaroslav Vilchevski was arrested for posting on his telegram channel about the anarchist Mikhail Zhobitski. Radio Liberty has called him an anarchist, but himself he is identifying himself as animal rights activist and musician. Radio Liberty has quoted some of his comments, and he has also criticized the mass mobilization when it was announced in Russia.
This update was provided by ABC-Moscow for German Das Antifaschistische Infoblatt issue 138. This version has some minor updates with numbers mentioned.
“Solidarity Zone” is a project that helps people repressed for anti-war resistance. Altleft talked to activists of the project about solidarity in the Russian society, forms of protest and the prospects of the end of the war. Questions were answered by participants that work in Russia.
Yegor Balazeikin is sixteen years old.
Fundraiser for continuing Viktor “Vitya” Filinkov’s campaign against the FSIN, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service!
I haven’t written here for a long time generally and about Vitya in particular. We haven’t seen each other for almost two months. That’s an awfully long time, and I miss him terribly. Soon I will fly back to Orenburg and tell you how Vitya is doing, but after meeting with him.
June 11th is the International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners. This action day has a long history, it was organized first time 20 years ago in 2004. In the first year, we managed to paint a graffiti to wall of one of the most guarded objects of Moscow,...
Anarchist group ANA Regensburg hosted my online-presentation on 16th of May 2024, in which I discussed tactics of anti-war activism in Russia, and reasons why the anti-war movement has not been able to make an impact to change the course of events yet. Cases of anarchists repressed for anti-war...