Sometimes you’ll hear people say that in modern Russia, it’s a waste of money to hire a lawyer for politically motivated cases. After all, they say, the person will be found guilty either way, and they’ll still get a sentence.
Solidarity Zone explain why having a lawyer is vital for political prisoners in Russia.
On the 4th of January 2023 32 year old Yaroslav Vilchevski was arrested for posting on his telegram channel about the anarchist Mikhail Zhobitski. Radio Liberty has called him an anarchist, but himself he is identifying himself as animal rights activist and musician.
Ilya is a young guy from Novosibirsk. He opposes war, loves animals and plays sports: from CrossFit to swimming. Ilya was detained at the end of September and accused of trying to set fire to the military enlistment office. The case was opened under the article on the organization of a terrorist attack (part 4 of article 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which provides punishment from 15 to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment.
Ruslan Zinin’s mother Marina Zinina has reported that on March 21 [her son] was transferred to a solitary confinement cell without explanation.
“They came and took him away, saying, ‘Let’s go to another place.’ They put him in the basement in a solitary confinement cell. […] The conditions are terrible. It’s damp and cold and reeks of sewage, and rats are running around, and there’s nothing in the cell at all, except for a cot. There’s nowhere to store food, nowhere to get water, there’s no kettle, there’s nothing.”
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.
On October 31, in the city Chita (Siberia, Russia) FSB officers detained Alexandr Snezhkov (19 years old) and Lyubov Lizunova (16 years old) because of graffiti “Death to the regime”. FSB was interested in their activities on the Internet as admins Telegram-channels «Shugan-25» and «75zlo».
Hi everyone! Today is Sunday, 4 of December and we continue our weekly podcast “Trends of order and chaos” This is episode 83. This is what caught our attention in the past week..
1. What should the mobilized do?
In Kazan, at the 1st or 2nd of December the mobilized left in crowds the military unit and went home.
Alfredo Cospito is an Italian anarchist political prisoner, a member of the "Informal Anarchist Federation" (IFA).
Cospito was convicted for the attack on Roberto Adinolfi, general director of Ansaldo Nucleare, and was later sentenced to life imprisonment for the events of the night of June 2 to 3, 2006 at the Carabinieri Cadet School in Fossano (Cuneo), where two small bombs exploded, causing no death or injuries and no serious damage.
Hi everyone! Today is Sunday, 16 of October and we continue our weekly podcast “Trends of order and chaos” This is episode 76. So, what we saw and thought about this week?
At the beginning of September, a court in Tyumen arrested six antifascists, the youngest of whom is 23, the oldest - 28 years old. One of the arrested is accused of organizing a terrorist group, the rest – of participation. Apart from that, two of the defendants in the case are accused of manufacturing explosives. Since then, three of the accused, have informed about tortures by electric shocks.
Solidarity Zone is a new initiative, established by anti-authoritarian activists. Anarchist Black Cross Moscow is cooperating with the new initiative, and we encourage everyone to support it.
Solidarity Zone is a horizontal initiative supporting those persecuted for anti-war actions. We came together in the spring of 2022 to help those left without attention by human rights organizations.
Interview was made by German anarcho-pacifist paper Graswurzelrevolution, and is published in the new issue of the paper in German. English translation by ABC Moscow.
- During the last months you have been very busy with supporting anti-war activists. How many anti-war prisoners are you supporting at the moment?
On August 30-31 in Tyumen, Yekaterinburg and Surgut, six antifascists were detained and later placed in pre-trial detention centers. This is reported by the Prometheus telegram channel:
An evening of solidarity with anarchist prisoners was held in "Tol'ko Sami" space in Moscow on August 27th. Several dozen people came to support the imprisoned comrades.
On June 4, Vladimir Zolotarev set fire to the National guard entrance in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Next day he was detained. In March, several canisters of fuel were found in his car, but he was not charged at the time. Now, Zolotarev is charged with "violence against a representative of authority" and "attempting to commit an act of terrorism."
On Saturday, August 27, 16-30 - 21-00, Moscow, "Tolko Sami" place (Shlomina, 6). As a part of the International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners
The defendant in the “Network” case, political prisoner Victor Filinkov keeps gaining victories against prison apparatus.
Hello! It’s Sunday, July 24 and we continue our podcast “Trends of order and chaos”. This is episode 64. Here are the top stories on past week’s agenda.
Hello! It's Sunday, July 10, and we carry on with our podcast, Trends of Order and Chaos. This is episode 62. Here are the top stories on last week's agenda.
6th of March, during anti-war meeting, Anton Zhuchkov and his friend Vladimir Sergeev were arrested in the center of Moscow, in Pushkin square.
They was searched, and police found two Molotov cocktails in the backpack of Sergeev. But instead of a police station, they were both sent to Sklifosovskiy emergency hospital. In police wan, Anton and Sergey attempted to commit a suicide, by taking lethal doses of methadone.
The worst thing Putin has done in Ukraine is to reconcile the authorities with the people. The president has turned from an object of universal criticism into the Ukrainian Charles de Gaulle.1 The general of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry offers to deliver himself to the Russian army in...
The results of the first 30 years of “democracy” in Ukraine are, to put it mildly, unconvincing. The economy and the media are in the hands of rival oligarchs, corruption is at staggering levels, economic development lags behind many African countries, and in addition, the country has become the...
