Тюрьмы

The anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui is accused of causing an explosion, on a railway used to transport military equipment and fuel to the Russian army in Ukraine. The result was the derailment of 19 carriages of a goods train in the Ryazan region. There were no casualties, although the driver’s assistant sustained non-serious injuries. Russian Railways assessed the damage at €300.000. Ruslan has been charged with committing a terrorist act, and possession of explosive material.

Danil is a convinced anti-fascist from Yekaterinburg, a loving husband and devoted friend, the soul of any company. He is one of the best veterinarians in Yekaterinburg, specializing as an orthopedic surgeon. Before his arrest, he worked in two veterinary clinics. Being a leading specialist in veterinary surgery, he constantly attended scientific conferences, improved his qualifications in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and mastered modern technologies in surgery and endoscopy. Danil trained veterinary specialists in Surgut.

Anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui, accused of rail line disruption and drone attack on a military airport in Ryazan Oblast, was transferred from SIZO “Kapotnya” at the outskirts of Moscow to “Matrosskaya Tishina”. As the antiwar human rights initiative “Solidarity zone” writes, Siddiqui himself informed a friend in a letter about the transfer.

New address for letters and parcels:

Recently, the defendants in the «Tyumen case» have received the final version of the charges. According to the support group, in letters to relatives and friends they write that the investigation committee has added two further offenses to the «terrorism» charge:

• «the illicit manufacture of explosives as part of an organized criminal group» (part 3 of article 223.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which envisages between fifteen and twenty years of deprivation of liberty

Yura is an antifascist and opponent of authoritarianism from Yekaterinburg, detained on August 31, 2022.

He is engaged in Thai boxing and studies computer technologies of graphic design. Yura is a talented freelance designer, recently he has been doing 3D modeling and drawing models for games and cartoons.

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.

Tomorrow, December 2 at 17.00 in Berlin (Kadterschmiede, RIGAER STRASSE 94) will start a first presentation about Ilya Shakursky. Ilya is a Russian political prisoner, participant of the Network Case, anarchist, anti-fascist and eco-activist. On February 10, 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security facility and also to a fine of 50,000 rubles. The investigation believes that he was the organizer of the “Network terrorist cell”. Ilya pleaded not guilty in court.

Deniz is an anti-fascist from Tyumen and was detained on August 30, 2022, with his friend Kirill Brik. (Kirill Brik signed a pre-trial agreement with the investigation, so the support team does not pay for his lawyer's services).

We share translation of an open letter written by defendant of the "Tyumen case" Danil Chertykov in detention. He talks about the difficulties he had to face in SIZO-1 of Tyumen and compared the penal system to the digestive system. The letter was translated specifically for our website.

Six anarchists from Russia have been held in pre-trial detention for a year on spurious charges of creating a "terrorist community". According to Russian law, our comrades face a total of 5 to 15 years of imprisonment for the charged articles, and 15 to 30 years of life imprisonment for organizing or leading a "terrorist community". The main proof of guilt is a confession given under torture.

Firefund calls everyone to support the crowdfunding to pay the lawyers for the defendants in the "Tyumen case". The guys have been in pre-trial detention for more than a year and they will face trials on the merits of the case. Families and relatives will have to pay for the participation of lawyers in these sessions and they will not be able to cope without help!

Because Kirill Brik, a defendant of the Tyumen case, signed a pre-trial agreement, Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow is no longer supporting him anymore. In some cases we do support prisoners who give testimonies against themselves, but we do not support prisoners that are testifying against others.

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.

At the end of each August, anarchists and anti-authoritarian activists from around the world take part in the International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners.

We call you to support political prisoners in Russia and Belarus by letters!

Ivan Kudryashov is an anti-war activist who made a street art piece in the center of Tver with the text “Fuck the War.”​ ​In September 2022, he was detained by the Federal Security Service. FSB officers planted Molotov cocktails in Ivan’s apartment and tortured the activist in an attempt to pressurize him to confess to preparing the arson of a military enlistment office.

“In our last meeting with Azat Miftakhov it was decided to write about the pressure security forces exert on Azat, previously not brought up by the support group – reports the channel FreeAzat! We were not doing it because at the beginning of his incarceration, we heard about Azat’s unwillingness to disclose this topic – back when it was too sensitive for him. Later in the penal colony, at his suggestion, we wanted to reserve the topic in case the administration uses pressure on prisoners with (political) status."

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. Radio Liberty has quoted some of his comments, and he has also criticized the mass mobilization when it was announced in Russia.

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.”