Case of anti-fascists of St. Petersburg and Penza

Fundraiser for continuing Viktor “Vitya” Filinkov’s campaign against the FSIN, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service!

I haven’t written here for a long time generally and about Vitya in particular. We haven’t seen each other for almost two months. That’s an awfully long time, and I miss him terribly. Soon I will fly back to Orenburg and tell you how Vitya is doing, but after meeting with him.

Network Trial defendant Viktor Filinkov tells a joke: “A programmer, a businessman, and an industrial climber planned to overthrow the government.”

The Penza Case in Petersburg: Closing Statements
Mediazona
June 18, 2020

 (about “the investigation” of the connection between the “network” case and the disappearance and death of two young people in Ryazan oblast)

Meduza presents a version according to which Maxim Ivankin, a defendant in the case of “Network”, in plain view of Alexei Poltavets participated in the murder of their acquaintances, Artem Dorofeev and Ekaterina Levchenko (Degree of Poltavets’es involvement in the murder is not specified).

We must not forget the anarchists and anti-fascists suffering repression in Russia! We are calling for people to take action of all forms to express support for these prisoners, to protest the prison system, and to spread information about the use of torture as an instrument of repression in Russia.

A Russian court has issued harsh sentences to seven antifascist and anarchist activists in a controversial domestic terrorism case marred by claims that investigators tortured the defendants to elicit confessions.

9 april 2019 the court trial in the case of the “anarchist terrorist community” Network got underway in St. Petersburg. Viktor Filinkov, a 24-year-old programmer, and Yuli Boyarshinov, a 27-year-old industrial climber, have been charged with involvement in Network.

Lawyers for Viktor Filinkov and Yuly Boyarshinov, two of the defendants in the “network case”, are now preparing for their trial. The defendants in the case are Russian anti-fascists who were arrested – and tortured by security services officers – in St Petersburg and Penza last year. They are accused of a so-called terrorist plot – a prosecution denounced by Russian human rights organisations as a frame-up.

We are Antifa Bulgaria/Антифа България and we would like to show our  solidarity with our Russian comrades, who are facing these  unbelievable mass repressions. We did an action in front of the Russian embassy today, 15th of March  - the International Day against Police Brutality. We were immediately  approached by the Gendarmerie, who were guarding the embassy and  subjected to an identity check.

Dmitry Pchelintsev and Andrei Chernov, residents of Penza and suspects in the so-called Network case, have gone on hunger strike, claiming remand prison officials and FSB officers have intimidated them during their review of their criminal case file, something to which they are entitled by Russian law. Several Penza suspects in the case have claimed they have been put in solitary confinement, handcuffed to radiators, and threatened with violance.

October 28, 2018 in Helsinki in front of the Russian Embassy. 10 people took part in the action, mostly anti-fascists and anarchists from Russia and some activists from Finland.

In February 2018, a campaign was launched in Russia to support those accused in the Network case. Among the main goals of the campaign were fundraising for legal costs, organizing humanitarian support for the arrested and offering support to their relatives. The resources gathered have so far been distributed according to the financial circumstances of the respective families and the needs of the arrested.

Antifascist and anarchist Arman Sagynbayev, who was arrested and remanded in custody as part of the Penza-Petersburg “terrorism” case, had until recently admitted his guilt. On September 4, he withdrew his confession, explaining that initially he had been tortured into testifying against himself and other young men arrested in the case, and then had been afraid to go against case investigators.

On August 25, 2018, in the frame of the 6th international week of solidarity with anarchist prisoners, anarchists held several support events in Helsinki.

A new defendant has been added to the case of the so-called Network, Petersburger Yuli Boyarshinov. In the following article, OVD Info reports what it knows about how Mr. Boyarshinov was charged in the case, and about the pressure put on him in the remand prison where he is currently jailed.

On March 18, 2018, as part of an international solidarity campaign with Russian antifascists and anarchists, there was a protest in Helsinki near the embassy of the Russian Federation.

Russian Activist Ilya Kapustin, Seeking Asylum in Finland: “When the Stamp Thudded in My Passport, It Was Like a Huge Weight Had Been Lifted from My Shoulders”
Nina Järvenkylä Iltalehti
March 10, 2018

A familiar looking man sits opposite me. We have met earlier via video link, but now there are coffee cups between us.

March 18 – act in solidarity with Russian anarchists!

Moscow Anarchist Black Cross released the review of repression of anarchists by Russian state in 2017 and early 2018. During this period, the authorities continue to frame and persecute the Russian comrades. Anarchists are also a subject of repressions in prisons. Here is the extract of recently published list of repression in Russia.

On 24 January 2018, I was tortured by the FSB into confessing to terrorism charges. Here is what happened.