Тюрьмы

Fundraiser for legal defense of Ural punk musician Maxim Lunin, accused of attempted sabotage

We are now supporting another political prisoner — 20-year-old punk musician Maxim Lunin from the town of Verkhnyaya Salda in Sverdlovsk Oblast. There is now a fundraiser for 250 000 rubles to cover six months of work by a lawyer who will defend Lunin at the Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg. This is a significant amount for supporters of political prisoners, so we very much hope for your help.

Wish Irkutsk anti-fascist Anton Kalakin a happy birthday!

Антон Калакин

Anton will turn 37 on October 9. This will be his first birthday in prison.

Anton lived in Irkutsk, worked as a security guard and repaired boats, ran a Telegram channel about the history of his hometown, helped homeless animals, and went to punk concerts.

At the end of October 2025, Anton was sentenced to six years in a general-regime penal colony on charges of “justifying terrorism” over two comments on Telegram.

19-year-old anarchist Dmitry Syutkin has begun studying languages intensively in prison. Let’s support Dmitry in his efforts!

Дмитрий Сюткин

Dima has started learning English and plans to learn the basics of German and French. In July and August, the project already sent him English and French textbooks. It is not yet clear whether these suited his needs, so the project wants to send him another batch of study materials, including a German textbook that we need to purchase for him.

Donation details:

Wish political prisoner and antifascist Bogdan Yakimenko a happy birthday!

Богдан Якименко

Tomorrow on September 3, Moscow antifascist Bogdan Yakimenko will turn 27. This will be his third birthday in captivity.

In February 2026, Bogdan was sentenced to 9 years in a penal colony in the Antifa United “extremist community” case. According to law enforcement, he was the “organizer” of the Antifa United social media page (an antifascist clothing brand) and the “331 Firm” chat, where attacks on “ideological enemies” were allegedly planned.

Presentation in Prosfygika, Athens: Repression against anarchists and anti-fascists in Russia

Over the summer in Prosfygika, there will be a series of events about the different struggles all over the world of the internationalist comrades, collectives and organizations that contributed to the victory and defense of Prosfygika. The events will happen both in Athens as also as an online livestream.

Send birthday wishes to antifascist political prisoner Savely Frolov

Савелий Фролов

Savely Frolov will turn 25 on 5 August. This will be his fourth birthday in captivity.

Savely is an antifascist and anti-war activist from Moscow who worked as an extreme sports instructor for children and teenagers. He was sentenced to six years in a general-regime penal colony and fined 100,000 roubles on charges of “preparing to commit high treason.” He has been imprisoned since 30 October 2022.

Fundraiser for Legal Defence Costs of the Tyumen Case Against Anarchists and Anti-fascists in August and September

Фигуранты «тюменского дела»

The Tyumen Case has now been heard by the Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg of Russia for two years. The defence is currently presenting evidence in court proving the innocence of our comrades.

Six substantive hearings are scheduled for August and the first half of September. We continue our fight for the freedom of Nikita Oleynik, Deniz Aydin, Yury Neznamov, Danil Chertykov, and Roman Paklin.

Wish imprisoned anarchist Deniz Aydin a happy birthday today!

Дениз Айдын

Today, July 21, anarchist Deniz Aydin celebrates his birthday. He turns 27 years old.

Deniz is an anarchist and anti-fascist from Tyumen. He played guitar in two bands: the hardcore group Siberian Brigade and the black metal project RASPUTIN. Shortly before his arrest, he enrolled in college to train as a locomotive driver. He planned to continue developing as a musician and dreamed of creating a support fund for political prisoners.

July 13 is Birthday of Chita Anarchists Case Defendant Lyubov Lizunova

Любовь Лизунова

Lyubov Lizunova willturn 20 years old.

In April 2024, Lyuba was sentenced to three and a half years in a general-regime penal colony over posts published on the Telegram channels. Two of the posts described anti-war direct action protests in the Transbaikal region. Initially, Lyuba was also prosecuted on a vandalism charge for the graffiti "Death to the regime" painted on the outskirts of Chita, but that case was later dropped after the statute of limitations expired.

11 Days, 7 Events, 5 Cities: How the Fires of Freedom Tour Went in France

11 Days, 7 Events, 5 Cities: How the Fires of Freedom Tour Went in France

In June, the Fires of Freedom took part in seven events across France. At each event, project representative and former political prisoner Ivan Astashin spoke about the connection between the war in Ukraine and political repression in Russia, Russian anarchists' opposition to the war, and the criminal cases brought against them.

Network Case Defendant Vasily Kuksov is turning 38 years old tomorrow

Василий Куксов

This will be the ninth birthday he spends behind bars.

Vasily was arrested in the autumn of 2017 and sentenced to nine years in a general-regime penal colony. During these years in prison, he has faced many hardships, contracted and recovered from tuberculosis, and been transferred between several colonies. Before his arrest, he lived in Penza, worked as a design engineer, played music, and helped animal shelters.

Anarchist Azat Miftakhov reported the torture he was subjected to after being transferred to Polar Owl - Penal Colony in Kharp

Mathematician Azat Miftakhov was first arrested in 2019 and has since been sentenced to 6 and 4 years in prison in two separate cases. Photo: It's My City

On April 21, the day after arriving at the colony, Azat was taken to the administration building. They tried to force him to clean a toilet there. After he refused, he was systematically tortured. Yesterday, The Insider published a detailed account by Azat, which they translated into English today. We are republishing an article by The Insider, in which Azat also names his torturers. You may find the postal address and details for financial support after the translation.

Azat Miftakhov is being transferred to the colony where Alexei Navalny was murdered

Anarchist, mathematician, and political prisoner Azat Miftakhov was sentenced on March 28, 2024, to 4 additional years in prison. On September 4, 2023, he was detained upon leaving IK-17 in Omutninsk, Kirov region, where he had already served his first sentence—allegedly for breaking a window at a United Russia office in Moscow’s Khovrino district. The basis for the new prosecution for “justifying terrorism” was (allegedly) comments Azat made while watching a TV program with other inmates about anarchist Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who carried out an explosion at the FSB office in Arkhangelsk.

A court has remanded teenage anarchist Nikita Uvarov in custody in a new criminal case

The Sovetsky District Court of Krasnoyarsk has ordered a pre-trial detention measure for Nikita Uvarov in a new criminal case that was opened against him in a penal colony a month before his scheduled release.

Nikita will now not be released on March 19 and will remain in pre-trial detention.

“People are still stuck in this cage”

How did a young, successful programmer become a “terrorist” and “extremist”? How did prisoners and prison guards react to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? And why did some prisoners, even those who were in prison for desertion, go to war? Viktor Filinkov, a defendant in the “Network” case who got 7 years in prison, talked about this in an interview with Posle.

Congratulate imprisoned anarchist Ruslan Sidiki on his birthday March 16

He will turn 38 years old. Ruslan Sidiki is a citizen of Russia and Italy, an electrician from Ryazan, an explorer of industrial areas, bicycle traveler, anarchist, and partisan. Last year the 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced Ruslan Sidiki to a record 29 years in prison. Two acts of sabotage against Russian military infrastructure carried out by Ruslan in 2023 were classified by the court as “terrorist acts.”

Columns

Антти Раутиайнен

Maroon communities of Americas are of interest to anti-authoritarian left of the area, looking for inspiration outside White/European context. One way to explain history of Cossacks of Ukraine to an American Leftist would be to define it as European analogue of a Maroon society. Listen this...

4 months ago
Антти Раутиайнен

I will give a presentation about repression against anarchists and anti-fascists in Russia at the Baltic Anarchist Bookfair in Tartu next Saturday at 1 PM EET/Moscow time (12 PM CET) at Hell (Tiigi 76A). You can also follow the presentation on Twitch. Short summary fo the talk:  After...

4 months ago
Антти Раутиайнен

In September 2024, I gave a presentation in Dresden about struggles against the right-wing government in Finland. Freedom published a text based on that presentation last September, but due to character limitations I had to skip an introduction to the Finnish party system. This background is...

8 months ago
Антти Раутиайнен

Repression targets Chita anarchists already jailed for war resistance and anti-regime graffiti The regional prosecutor’s office for the Trans-Baikal region in eastern Siberia has submitted a petition to a local court to recognize the “Trans-Baikal Left Association” as a terrorist...

9 months ago