Day: September 11, 2018

Shakursky and Pchelintsev Formally Indicted for Organizing “Terrorist Community”

znakcom-1838828-666x444Protest against the Penza-Petersburg “terrorism” case on the steps of FSB headquarters in Petersburg, February 2018. Photograph by David Frenkel. Courtesy of Znak.com

Penza-Petersburg “Terrorism” Case Suspects Shakursky and Pchelintsev Charged with Organizing Terrorist Community
Mediazona
September 10, 2018

Penza-Petersburg “terrorism” case suspects Dmitry Pchelintsev, Ilya Shakursky, and Arman Sagynbayev have been formally indicted. Now Pchelintsev and Shakursky, who earlier were accused of involvement in the alleged “terrorist community” the Network, have been indicted for organizing it, per Article 205.4 Part 1 of the Russian Federal Criminal Code. Mediazona heard the news from the Parents Network, a committee formed by relatives of the young men arrested and accused in the case.

In keeping with previous accusations, Sagynbayev was indicted for involvement in a “terrorist organization,” per Russian Criminal Code Article 205.4 Part 2. During the reading of the indictment, he recanted his previous testimony, saying he had given it under duress. Mediazona has published Sagynbayev’s deposition to his defense attorney, in which he recounts how FSB field agents tortured him after after they detained him in Petersburg.

With the lawyer present, an FSB investigator pressured Sagynbayev for approximately five hours, but the accused man nevertheless failed to confess his guilt. Subsequently, a FSB field agent visited Sagynbayev in the Penza remand prison and threatened to send him “to the north, to Sentsov,” but explained he still could change his testimony.

As our sources in the Parents Network recounted, during the reading of the indictment, the FSB investigator showed Pchelintsev two written conclusions. In the first, it said Pchelintsev had confessed his guilt and was charged with violating Criminal Code Article 205.4 Part 2, which stipulates a penalty of five to ten years in prison. In the second, it said Pchelintsev had not admitted his guilt and was charged with violating Article 205.4 Part 1, punishable by fifteen to twenty years in prison.

None of the indicted men pleaded guilty.

Translated by the Russian Reader

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What can you do to support the Penza and Petersburg antifascists and anarchists tortured and imprisoned by the FSB?

  • Donate money to the Anarchist Black Cross via PayPal (abc-msk@riseup.net). Make sure to specify your donation is earmarked for “Rupression.”
  • Spread the word about the Network Case aka the Penza-Petersburg “terrorism” case. You can find more information about the case and in-depth articles translated into English on this website (see below), rupression.com, and openDemocracyRussia.
  • Organize solidarity events where you live to raise money and publicize the plight of the tortured Penza and Petersburg antifascists. Go to the website It’s Going Down to find printable posters and flyers you can download. You can also read more about the case there.
  • If you have the time and means to design, produce, and sell solidarity merchandise, please write to rupression@protonmail.com.
  • Write letters and postcards to the prisoners. Letters and postcards must be written in Russian or translated into Russian. You can find the addresses of the prisoners here.
  • Design a solidarity postcard that can be printed and used by others to send messages of support to the prisoners. Send your ideas to rupression@protonmail.com.
  • Write letters of support to the prisoners’ loved ones via rupression@protonmail.com.
  • Translate the articles and information at rupression.com and this website into languages other than Russian and English, and publish your translations on social media and your own websites and blogs.
  • If you know someone famous, ask them to record a solidarity video, write an op-ed piece for a mainstream newspaper or write letters to the prisoners.
  • If you know someone who is a print, internet, TV or radio journalist, encourage them to write an article or broadcast a report about the case. Write to rupression@protonmail.com or the email listed on this website, and we will be happy to arrange interviews and provide additional information.
  • It is extremely important this case break into the mainstream media both in Russia and abroad. Despite their apparent brashness, the FSB and their ilk do not like publicity. The more publicity the case receives, the safer our comrades will be in remand prison from violence at the hands of prison stooges and torture at the hands of the FSB, and the more likely the Russian authorities will be to drop the case altogether or release the defendants for time served if the case ever does go to trial.
  • Why? Because the case is a complete frame-up, based on testimony obtained under torture and mental duress. When the complaints filed by the accused reach the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and are examined by actual judges, the Russian government will again be forced to pay heavy fines for its cruel mockery of justice.

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If you have not been following the Penza-Petersburg “terrorism” case and other recent cases involving frame-ups, torture, and violent intimidation by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and other arms of the Russian police state, read and republish the recent articles the Russian Reader has posted on these subjects.

Varya Mikhaylova: After the Protest Rally

varyaVarya Mikhaylova and her defendants. Photo courtesy of Ms. Mikhaylova’s Facebook page

Varya Mikhaylova
Facebook
September 10, 2018

Yesterday, after the protest rally, for several hours I made the rounds of different police precincts where detainees had been taken: Lenin Square, Prospekt Bolshevikov, Rybatskoye, and General Khrulov Street. It was night when I got home.

Today, I defended people who were involved in the rally and people who weren’t involved in the rally at the Primorsky District Court. I have just left the court building.

Total legal nihilism prevailed in the court. People were tried not individually, but in bunches. The judge said outright to the defendants that if they refrained from making any appeals she would go easier on them. Many defendants were not allowed to go to the bathroom all day. A police officer ate the food intended for the detainees from the 25th Police Precinct. Most of my defendants were convicted and sent off to jail for four to seven days.

But there were a number of important victories.

  1. I managed to get one defendant’s charge changed from Article 20.2 Part 8 of the Administrative Offenses Code (“repeated violation”) to Article 20.2 Part 6.1 (“involvement in an unauthorized assembly, rally, demonstration,  march or picket”). We were able to convinced the judge there were was nothing in the case file proving the repeated violation charge. Instead of fifteen to thirty days in jail or a fine of 150,000 to 300,000 rubles, he was sentenced to five days in jail.
  2. The case of another defendant was completely dismissed. However, since I was removed from the hearing, it was hardly my doing. But the defendant thinks it was crucial I told him to tell the judge about his chronic illness.
  3. The judge wrote in the sentence she handed down to ten guys that the length of their jail terms took effect today, not yesterday, when they were detained, but I convinced her to correct this mistake, and consequently they got back one day of freedom lawfully owed to them.

It went something like that. I wish all of you would go to the court hearings the day after a big protest rally at least once. Your world would never be the same again.

And the detainees are all amazing.

Translated by the Russian Reader