Russia

A Statement by the Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union

In the early hours of January 31st, Russian security services stormed the apartment of @Pavel Nikulin, a co-chair of the Journalists' and Media Workers' Union. We can assume that Pavel’s apartment was searched in connection with an article he wrote for the New Times magazine in March 2017. The article, titled “From Kaluga With Jihad," was removed from the magazine's website after a court found it was "publicly justifying terrorism."

“They Said They Could Break My Legs and Dump Me in the Woods.” Petersburger Ilya Kapustin Recounts How FSB Officers Tortured Him
Yegor Skovoroda
Mediazona
January 27, 2018

Traces of handcuffs on Ilya Kapustin’s hands. Photo courtesy of his attorney and Mediazona

Petersburg Anarchist Viktor Filinkov, Arrested in Terrorism Case, Says He Was Tortured
Mediazona
January 26, 2018

Antifascist Viktor Filinkov, arrested for alleged involvement in a terrorist network, has told members of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) he was tortured, according to the PMC’s report, which Mediazona has in its possession.

On January 23, antifascist Viktor Filinkov disappeared in Petersburg. He was found two days later: the press service of the Petersburg court system related Filinkov had been remanded to police custody after confessing his involvement in a terrorist network whose members “profess[ed] the anarchist ideology.” Members of the Public Monitoring Commission were able to visit him in the pretrial detention center a day later.

We are currently fundraising to pay the lawyers working on several cases related to the police raids and arrests of anarchists and antifascists in St. Petersburg and Penza, Russia. 

As of now, two people in St. Petersburg and five in Penza are under arrest, while many others have been connected to their cases as witnesses. The raids and repressions are likely to continue. 

The FSB Breaks Left

A second anarchist from the mythical organization Network (Set) has been remanded to police custody at the request of counterintelligence. Viktor Filinkov and Igor Shiskin are suspected of planning an armed insurrection to seize power

Alexander Yermakov
Fontanka.ru
January 27, 2018

On January 23 antifascists Viktor Filinkov was kidnapped at the airport in St. Petersburg and was found two days later in a special detention facility of FSB (Russian Federal Security Service). He claimed to have been tortured by masked police and forced to give evidence in a terrorist case against himself.

On January 25 another activist, Igor Shishkin, was detained while walking a dog. His house was searched, as his wife said to OVD-Info.

Last Bolotnaya Square Defendant Flees Russia
RBC
November 9, 2017

In an interview with Current Time TV, Bolotnaya Square defendant Dmitry Buchenkov said he has left Russia for a European Union country.

He said he has applied for political asylum in this country. Buchenkov failed to say exactly where he had gone.

From 7th to 8th of January 2017 fourth Father Frost against Putin-festival will be organised in Helsinki. Exact festival location will be announced later. 

As in earlier years, various Russian grassroot initiatives will present themselves in festival. You should visit festival, if you are interested on what has happened in Russian anarchist, feminist and queer movements

during year 2016.

All festival events will be open to everyone. 

Elena Nadezhkina took part in different animal defence-, eco- and social actions, international solidarity actions and many others. Until 2009 she volunteered for several years: rescued dogs and cats and found homes for them.  Moreover, Elena participated in ecological projects: campaign against deforestation, campaign for political prisoners of the Khimki forest defence and other social actions.

A new BBC documentary on Russian dissidents features anarchist Alexey Polihovich and wife of antifa prisoner Anna Gaskarova. 

Our World -Russia: Crushing Dissent BBC Documentary 2016

From 1 to July 10, 2016, a call to action in solidarity with anarchists and antifascists imprisoned-e-s in Russia was made by the Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow. Indeed, the political and repressive situation in Russia is very hard for our comrades fighting for anarchism and fascism (and more generally for all those fighting for human rights), and many of them found themselves es imprisoned in high security prisons or labor camps because of their activism, often condemned es for terrorism or violence.

31 may 2016 Taganrog City Court Judge Georgy Serebryanikov sentenced 31-year-old local resident Elizaveta Tsvetkova to a year of corrective labor for disseminating leaflets criticizing the police, reports Caucasian Knot. As published on the court’s website, the verdict stipulates that fifteen percent of Tsvetkova’s wages will be docked by the state for a year.

Dmitry Buchenkov, PhD in political sciences, antifascist, anarchist and boxing coach, has been under arrest for already more than three months in “Vodnik” remand prison. Investigators suspect him of participating in the riots of May 6, 2012 at Bolotnaya Square in Moscow. The absurdity of the accusation against Dmitry Buchenkov is quite evident: he had been in Nizhny Novgorod on that day, more than 300 km away from Moscow, but he was arrested anyway despite the alibi.

How do you spend your day in prison?

A well-known antifascist and anarchist Dmitry Buchenkov, PhD in political science, was arrested in Moscow in December 2015. He is suspected of participating in the riots of May 6, 2012. More than 400 persons were arrested as a result of a mass protest action against Putin’s politics that took place on May 6, 2012 in Moscow. Dmitry was not in Moscow on that day, he was in Nizhny Novgorod, more than 300 km away from Moscow.

At the beginning of December, Dmitry Buchenkov became the latest person in Russia’s ‘Bolotnaya Case’, a series of investigations and trials into Russia’s opposition now in its fourth year.

"OVD-INFO" (russian NGO which observes police repressions) has found photos of Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012. In the center the person in black "which in Investigative committee (Russian analog of FBI) is considered to be Dmitry Buchenkov". According to Buchenkov's companions, it is obviouslu another person. Any person who has seen Dmitry Buchenkov at least once, would understand that there is different person on this photo.

On June 2 preliminary hearing regarding the case of anarchist political prisoner Ilya Romanov from Nizhnii Novgorod was conducted in Moscow District Military Court. Ilya took part in the court session via video conference link. The court rejected all the petitions of the defendant's lawyer, Evgeny Gubin, including the petition to cancel his "non-disclosure" pledge, which the investigating bodies made him to sign.

Actions to demand the release Alekxander Kolchenko will take place in France from June 27 to 30, 2015. Demonstraions and meetings will be organised in Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, Marseille and Biarritz. We strongly encourage you to join the solidarity campaign and to do something in support of Alexander Kolchenko from June 30 to July 5.

In Yekaterinburg May 30, 2015 rally against the tyranny of the police. The occasion was a series of unjustified detentions of public activists cops of the Police Department №5, including anti-fascists on May 9 for a photo with a scarf Omonia at the monument to the heroes of World War II.