The lawsuit was filed by the acting prosecutor of Zabaykalsky Krai, Stanislav Nemtsov. The defendants were Chita-based anarchists Aleksandr Snezhkov and Lyubov Lizunova. According to their support group, they were declared the “leaders” of the association. Anarchists took part in the court hearing on January 20 via video link. Aleksandr is being held in SIZO-2 in Krasnokamensk, where he is awaiting an appeal against a sentence in a second case of “justifying terrorism” — for reading excerpts from his first criminal case to his cellmates. Lyubov is serving her sentence in Penal Colony IK-7 in Ulan-Ude.
By the “Zabaykalskoye Left Association,” the prosecution refers to the Telegram channel 75zlo, which published news about anti-war protests, partisan actions, and animal rights activism. The anarchists have already been convicted for posts published on this channel. It currently has fewer than 100 subscribers and has not been updated since October 2022, when Snezhkov and Lizunova were detained.
As reported by the court’s press service, the lawsuit was filed “in the interests of an indefinite group of persons and the Russian Federation.” The grounds for the case were materials submitted to the FSB. As Aleksandr explained, “all of this was carefully and painstakingly collected over a long period of time by an FSB operative” who supervised the first criminal case against the anarchists. “They’re turning us into who-knows-what, demonizing teenagers,” he said about the lawsuit.
The activities attributed to the movement include graffiti featuring the abbreviation ZLO and the word “Snezhok” — Aleksandr’s nickname, which he uses to sign his letters. Snezhkov wrote that “the small city of Chita is still covered with this six-letter word in different colors and sizes.” Three witnesses from the first criminal case against Snezhkov and Lizunova are considered participants in the movement.
According to the court’s press release, ZLO is an unregistered organization whose activities are “aimed at propaganda, justification, and support of terrorism, as well as the commission of crimes of a terrorist nature.” It is claimed that the organization was created in July 2019, when Lyubov was 13 years old. “The movement has its own symbols in the form of a flag and a coat of arms, as well as an informational online platform,” the court stated.
As Aleksandr explained, the so-called coat of arms and flag were taken to be the avatar image of the Telegram channel 75zlo. In court, he said that ZLO never had any structure or charter. According to him, the communities he created on VKontakte and Telegram were merely public pages where he shared his thoughts. During the hearing, the anarchists emphasized that they opposed hatred based on nationality or religion and did not create a terrorist organization.
Snezhkov has been imprisoned since 2022. The court ruled that “at present, his terrorist activity has not ceased under conditions of isolation from society.” In addition, the prosecution stated that “supporters of the organization remain at large and continue to disseminate information about it.” The case materials also state that “ZLO continues to be supported by people who have left the territory of Russia.”
In November 2024, a military court sentenced Lyubov and Aleksandr to 3.5 and 6 years in a general-regime penal colony, respectively. They were charged with “vandalism”, “justification of terrorism”, and “extremism” — over graffiti reading “Death to the regime” on garages and publications in the Telegram channels 75zlo and Shugany-25. At the time of their detention, Lyubov was 16 years old and Aleksandr was 19. In a second case of “justifying terrorism” for conversations with cellmates, Aleksandr has already received an additional sentence of five years in a strict-regime penal colony.
The support group has announced a fundraising campaign of 280,000 rubles (circa 3200 euros) to assist the defendants in the “Chita case.” These funds are intended to cover six months of food parcels for them.
Ruble donations can be made via the “Zaodno” platform
PayPal:
firesoffreedom@protonmail.com (please include the note “for Luba and Sasha”)
Cryptocurrency donations:
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Bitcoin: bc1qx63u6p0tlqd40hpcgeln7sksy2hgm0gekgpw8s
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Ethereum: 0xE8A926f292272391707ed1A7b55Db1466F0c0993
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Litecoin: LVxHRweSkkwkNHxY432U2swpEUAMWupsrP
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USDT (ERC20): 0xE8A926f292272391707ed1A7b55Db1466F0c0993
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Monero:
47AqYo1kkbWYeypvDTrNtcBAKPJaHXRNjQsdRhrBm6SNVffeRLfadrqXoQ2FHgPiud6T3vLB5VjS2QKJM9MnZVJJJ8cV9tw
When making cryptocurrency transfers, please be sure to notify via email:
firesoffreedom@protonmail.com
Letters of support must be written in Russian (use auto-translate) and can be sent to Aleksandr at:
СИЗО-2 Краснокаменск, а/я 109
674674, Забайкальский край, г. Краснокаменск
Снежкову Александру Евгеньевичу, 2003 г. р.
and to Lyubov at:
Лизуновой Любови Витальевне, 2006 г.р.
Россия, 670000, г.Улан-Удэ, ул.Пристанская, 4-а, ИК-7
Anarchist Black Cross Moscow
You may find the contact addresses of all prisoners in Russia supported by Anarchist Black Cross Moscow here. If you want to make a donation to a particular prisoner or case, please contact us beforehand via e-mail to make sure that the supporters of the prisoner or case are currently gathering donations, our e-mail is the same as the listed PayPal account. We are present in Telegram and Facebook, you may sign up to our e-mail newsletter here.
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