Azat Miftakhov

Translation of the article into English was done by our volunteers.

At the end of March 2024, the mathematician and anarchist Azat Miftakhov was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a criminal case for “justifying terrorism”. Miftakhov pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. The case itself emerged after a prisoner, whom the anarchist considered a close friend in the colony, testified against the mathematician. The defence and Azat himself have repeatedly stated that the case is fabricated.

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.

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.

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.