Two Russian political prisoners file complaint with UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

Two Russian political prisoners, mathematician Azat Miftakhov and former Moscow local councillor Alexey Gorinov, have filed a complaint over what they claim was their unlawful prosecution and imprisonment with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Memorial Human Rights Centre announced on Monday.

Both men were found guilty of “publicly justifying terrorism” while in prison serving terms for other offences. In their complaint to the UN, which was filed on their behalf by Memorial, the two men argued that the wording in the article of the Russian Criminal Code under which they had been convicted was “too broad and vague”, and noted that a person could be charged with “publicly justifying terrorism” in Russia with no proof of intent, and that a statement needed only to be heard by two people to be considered public.

The complaint also argued that the criminal case against Gorinov had been based on entrapment and had included evidence that should have been ruled inadmissible. While recovering from an illness in the prison infirmary, Gorinov was placed in a room with prison informers wearing recording devices who systematically asked him questions about the war in Ukraine. One fellow prisoner asked Gorinov 137 questions about the war in a single day.

Both men are being held in harsh conditions, according to the complaint. Prior to his arrest, Gorinov contracted tuberculosis and a part of one of his lungs had to be removed. As a result, he requires constant medical supervision, something that he is routinely denied in prison.

A UN body that investigates complaints of arbitrary imprisonment around the world, the working group’s findings can serve as sufficient legal basis for a criminal case to be reviewed, according to Memorial.

Gorinov was originally sentenced to seven years in prison in July 2022 for spreading “false information” about the Russian military. He was subsequently given a further three years in prison for “publicly justifying terrorism” in November 2024, while still serving his first sentence.

Miftakhov was immediately re-arrested upon leaving prison in September 2023 after completing a custodial sentence for throwing a smoke grenade at a United Russia office in Moscow. According to prosecutors, while watching TV with fellow prisoners, Miftakhov had expressed his support for Mikhail Zhlobitsky, a teenager who blew himself up at an office of Russia’s Federal Security Service in the Arctic city of Arkhangelsk in 2018. Miftakhov, a self-professed anarchist, denied the charges. He too was sentenced to a further four years in prison in March 2024 for “publicly justifying terrorism”.