Today, about 10 a.m. Sosnovoborsky City Court granted the petition of the political prisoner Alexey Sokolov parole.
At 15 p.m. Alexey appeared in front of penal colony №40, where lawyer Roman Kachanov waited for him. I managed to phone to take short interview with Aleksey:
- Alexey! How are you and what do you feel? How much court decision on your parole was expected?
Since 19th of July, Russian anho.org (shorthand for "Anarchist Hosting") has been targeted with a DDoS - attack. Since then, numerous activist websites have been unaccessible - including Indymedia-Siberia and various anarchist groups (Autonomous Action of Kazan, Autonomous Action of Irkutsk, Inter-Professional Union of Workers etc.). Main goal of the attackers is antijob.anho.org - website, committed to defence of workers against employers. This project includes popular feature "black list of employers" where workers are reporting problematic employers.
Pelican Bay State Prison Security Housing Units Peaceful Protest Hunger Strike Starting July 1, 2011
Rinat Sultanov - anarchist anti-fascist and RASH-skinhead from Saint Petersburg of Russia, who was sentenced to two years in prison for a fight with Nazis, which took place 4th of November 2008, is being transferred. During transfer, which may take more than a month, his whereabouts are unknown. Please remove Rinat's address from prisoner lists until his new prison address is known.
Dedok Nikolai Aleksandrovich / Dziadok Mikalai Aliaksandravich*
IK-15, 213105, Mogilev, p/o Veino, Slavgorodskoe shosse, 5 km. KARANTIN
BELARUS
Frantskevich Aleksandr Vladimirovich / Frantskevich Aliaksandr Uladzimiravich*
IK-22 “Volchi nory”, 225295 , Brestskaya obl., Ivatsevichski r-n, st. Domanovo KARANTIN
BELARUS
Olinevich Igor Vladimirovich / Alinevich Ihar Uladzimiravich*
IK-10, 211440, Vitebskaya obl., Novopolotsk, ul. Tekhnicheskaya, 8 KARANTIN
BELARUS
Vaskovich Evgeni Sergeevich / Vas’kovich Jauhen Siarheevich (KGB attack)*
IK-15, 213105, Mogilev, p/o Veino, Slavgorodskoe shosse, 5 km. KARANTIN
BELARUS
24th of June, judge of the Khimki city court of Moscow region of Russia, Neonila Zepalova, sentenced “Khimki hostages”, anti-fascist activists Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov, who were accused of organisation of a radical demonstration against construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg toll highway, which took place in Moscow Suburb of Khimki 28th of July.
The situation in Belarus is now getting closer to the one that was during the elections in December 2010 but now it seems to be more massive and popular.
Ecological and human rights activists and social organisations are welcome to the camp. The camp program will include protests against the destruction of forests in the Moscow region, workshops and trainings.
At the present moment by The Anti-Extremist Center of GUVD (General Directorate of Internal Affairs - SM) in Nizhniy Novgorod Region detectives a criminal case is fabricating against Artem Bystrov, who was arrested on April 26,2011. He is incriminated the article № 213 part 2 (hooliganism committed by a group of persons on preliminary arrangement by hatred or hostility toward a particular social group). Two of suspects yet couldn't be arrested. It is worth noting that victim itself — a nationalist D.Redkin, doesn't have any claims to people arrested on April 26 and refuses to take part in confrontments. The case was filed seven months after the accident. It was filed by pressure at the victim and the witness. The investigation is proceeded with gross violations and falsification of evidence. For example during the rummages the membership cards of non-existing organisation “RASH-Antifa” with photos and serial numbers, evidently made by Center “E”(The Anti-Extremist Center - SM) detectives, were planted in to the suspects' homes. <
Today, when the sentence was passed on Belarusian anarchists, Anarchist Black Cross-Belarus considers it a must to say the words of gratitude that had accumulated during the 8.5 months of waiting and struggle.
Out experience has proven that really ‘a friend in need’s a friend indeed’.
First of all we would like to express gratitude to all the people, groups, collectives and organisations which responded to our calls for solidarity with Belarusian anarchists.
We got support from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Omsk, Novorossiysk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, Ekaterinburg, Ufa, Kazan’, Cheboksary, Nizhniy Novgorod, Volgograd, Voronezh, Belgorod, Rjazan’, Smolensk, Simferopol, Mariupol, Donetsk,whole, within 8 months 74 solidarity actions of all kinds took place, from info-meetings and leaflets spread to radical actions (the blockade of the Moscow-Minsk road, attacks on KGB, police stations and detention facilities). Kyiv, Lviv, Chishinau, Minsk, Bobruisk, Gomel, Grodno, Bereza, Zhlobin, Vilnius, Riga, Lublin, Warsaw, Szczecin, Budapest, Prague, Sofia, Vienna, Tirol, Berlin, Rostock, Hamburg, Marcelle.
On the 27th of May, judge Zhanna Khvoynitskaya sentenced the Belarusian anarchists Ihar Alinevich, Mikalaj Dziadok, Aliaksandar Frantskievich, Maxim Vetkin and Yeveni Slivonchik. The young men were accused of a number of political actions, amongst which was the attack against the Russian embassy in Minsk in August of 2010.
Ihar Alinevich was accused of attacks against the Russian Embassy and Belarusbank ("Property destruction with intent", statute 218 paragraph 3 of the Belarusian Criminal Codex), an attack against the remand prison of Minsk (also statute 218, paragraph 2), an attack against a Casino and an illegal demonstration at the military headquarters ("Aggravated hooliganism", statute 339 paragraph 2 of Belarusian criminal codex). The prosecutor asked for a 9 year sentence in hard regime, eventually he received 8 years of hard regime (1).
Background [see also correction at bottom]: there was some noisy party in some apartment in Barcelona, in the confuse events that followed an agent was hit by a potted plant thrown from a balcony causing him severe injuries that left him paraplegic.
Strangely the municipal police, instead of investigating properly and persecuting whoever threw the pot, decided to blame this on the squatter movement. First they decided that the apartment in question was "related" somehow to the squatter movement, something these deny, then they changed the story of the potted plant for a stone, finally they accused this girl, Patricia Heras, of throwing not the stone but a mobile fence in the course of the confusing struggle.
28th of April, hip-hop musician Andrei "KUBA" Kravchenko was kidnapped by police in Moscow in university, where he was about to pass his final exams in faculty of PR. He was handcuffed and taken to police station of "Bogorodskoe", from where he was further sent by airplane to his hometown, distant city of Chita in Siberia.
30th of April, Andrey was interrogated in criminal case against local anti-fascist activists, and eventually released court pending. Case dates back to September of 2010, when a group of local Nazis, lead by Semen Murzin, claimed to local polcie that they had been beaten up by anti-fascists. Five anti-fascist were charged with "hooliganism", but eventually three of them have been requalified from suspects to witnesses.
BERLIN – Irmela Mensah-Schramm stopped abruptly at the crudely sprayed swastika on the wall of a pedestrian underpass. Whipping out a can of spray paint from her cotton tote bag, she quickly made short work of it, turning the neo-Nazi symbol into a nondescript black splotch.
For the 65-year-old retiree, it's all in a day's work.
From 2nd of 9th of April 2011 and after, actions to defend “Khimki hostages”, Alexei Gaskarov and brothers Maxim and Denis Solopov were organised in six countries and
25 cities. Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov are currently out from jail, in court facing charges following from a demonstration, which was organised 28th of July 2010 in Moscow suburg of Khimki against construction of Moscow-St. Petersburg toll road, and the gross human rights violations against its opposers. Denis Solopov has been granted an UNCHR refugee status in Ukraine, but in beginning of April he was detained and is currently waiting his deportation court in Lykyanovka prison of Kiev.
Released their second album "Fellow Arcadia" - the Executive, which is close to our ideas. The album featured nine new songs performed with guitar accompaniment. Comrade Arkady before that for several years played in the infamous hardcore band, adhering to leftist ideas, but now switched to a different genre. Lyrics and poetry is quite acceptable level. The author has talent, and previous experience probably helps. On the subject of a socially-oriented lyrics.
Presentation of the new organization took place at a concert in support of Barnaul anarchists, which was held on April 16. Group ACHK-Irkutsk acted as the organizer of the show, and some of us have been involved and in the music program. Seven groups and projects from Irkutsk and Angarsk presented a wide palette of musical styles - from dub to noise.
For details and photos see the blog ACHK-Irkutsk
On Wednesday, April 13, students of Lviv held mass protest "against the degradation of education", which was attended by no less than 4 thousand people. Everything began with the rally near the monument of Ivan Franko, where students painted posters, writing on the stands of their grievances and demands to the Ministry of Education and conducted the orchestra rehearsal protest.
April 16, activists of the Movement for Khimki forest again gathered at the clearing near the village of Vashutino where, according to their information, work began on deforestation. All in all a place of deforestation came about 50 ekoaktivistov who opposed the 25 guards Chop Vityaz. According to activists, the guards did not show any permits for work in the forest, but their actions have suffered at least three defenders of the forest.
April 11 the Belarusian society was cowardly attacked by political force. On Monday at 17:58 in Minsk at the metro station "Oktyabrskaya" explosion. 12 people were killed, 149 wounded, among them 22 people were in serious condition, 30 - with injuries of moderate severity. An explosive device containing chopped fittings, nails 80h8 mm metal balls with a diameter of 15 mm, was found at the benches placed on the platform.
5 arrests in Bologna, 7 banning orders, 60 raids all over Italy. On April 6 more than 300 officers were employed in an “anti-terrorism” operation named ‘Outlaw Operation’ that specially targeted anarcho-insurrectionalist activists. The operation was carried out in 16 different cities including Bologna, where police arrested 5 activists close to the squatted social centre Fuoriluogo and shut down the place. Another person was arrested in the nearby town of Ferrara and released straight after interrogation. 7 other people are under banning orders which restrict their movements and are also being investigated (just for your information, these measures are normally adopted when there is serious circumstantial evidence of guilt AND at least one of the following: risk of escape, risk of acquisition or of the genuineness of the evidence and risk of the offence being repeated).
A powerful explosion in a subway station "Oktyabrskaya" in Minsk 11 April 2011 during the evening rush hour. As a result, killing 12 people, more than 150 were hospitalized. April 12 Chairman of the KGB of Belarus Vadim Zaitsev announced three versions of the terrorist attack in the Minsk metro. "Today we have three versions. The first - to destabilize the situation in Belarus "- said Zaitsev told journalists on Tuesday.
British Professor Chris Busby, criticizing the official methods of assessment, predicts 420 million additional cases of cancer in 200 kilometers of Fukushima in the next 50 years. Scientists are trying to estimate the total emissions of Japanese radiation disaster, using a global network of military nuclear monitoring. Meanwhile, the Japanese establishment in a hurry to declare that the contamination is reduced and not a threat to the Japanese.
Hristoforos Kortesis, Evangelos "Vaggelis" Statopulos and Sarantos Nikitopulos (three of the six detainees accused of involvement in the urban guerrilla group "Revolutionary Struggle") released by the decision of the Court of Appeal on April 5. All three - the anarchists, has repeatedly denied the charges against them and unjustly pursued by on the basis of mere political and companionship. Conducting business and its fabrication, which resulted in the arrested have stayed a year in prison, suspended. In the near future of our comrades to stand trial.
April 12 anti-fascists passed a petition to the consulate of Ukraine in Saint Petersburg. In support of Dennis Solopova activists were gathered around a hundred signatures. The petition contained a request not to extradite to Russia party's anti-fascist movement Denis Solopova being in jail in Ukraine and is suspected of organizing attacks on the administration building near Moscow Khimki 28 July 2010 in protest against plans to cut down forests Khimki.
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...