In Penza, the arrest of seven defendants in the Network case was extended

The Leninsky District Court of Penza extended the arrest of seven defendants in the Network case. This was reported by “7x7” with reference to the mother of one of the accused, Svetlana Pchelintseva.

The judge left anarchists and anti-fascists Dmitry Pchelintsev, Ilya Shakursky, Arman Sagynbaev, Andrei Chernov, Vasily Kuksov, Mikhail Kulkov and Maxim Ivankin in custody until October 18.

According to Pchelintseva, the trial was held behind closed doors. But when the judge went into the deliberation room, the parents of the defendants in the case were able to talk with their children. Anti-fascists said that on September 17, the investigation into the case will be completed and its materials will be submitted to the court.

“It’s difficult to say, everything is so outrageous and surprising that no arguments, no evidence are accepted. Regarding the appeal to Moskalkova [the parents of the accused on September 10 submitted an appeal to the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, Tatyana Moskalkova, with a request to assist in the investigation of the torture to which the accused were allegedly subjected by FSB officers] - we both believe, of course, and very much doubt it. She made no specific promises. But we believe that our defense position in court is good. We hope that there is nothing left for us to do,” the mother of the accused, Tatyana Chernova, told 7x7.

• On September 12, Pchelintsev filed a statement with the prosecutor's office of the Penza region, in which he stated that FSB investigator Valery Tokarev forced him to admit guilt of participating in a terrorist community. According to the anti-fascist, if he agreed to these conditions, the investigator promised to mitigate the charges.
• On September 10, information appeared that Pchelintsev and another defendant in the case, Ilya Shakursky, were charged under Part 1 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code (creation of a terrorist community). Arman Sagynbaev was charged with participation in a terrorist community (Part 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code).
• On September 6, it became known that Sagynbaev spoke about torture for the first time. Other defendants in the case - Dmitry Pchelintsev , Ilya Shakursky , Viktor Filinkov - and a witness in the case in St. Petersburg , Ilya Kapustin , also reported electric shock torture and beatings by FSB officers. He was forced to leave Russia and asked for political asylum in Finland.
• According to investigators, “Network” is a terrorist organization, which allegedly has cells in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Penza and Belarus. Law enforcement officers believe that community members were preparing terrorist attacks in Russia in order to stir up an armed rebellion.
• In Penza in the fall of 2017, anti-fascists Ilya Shakursky, Dmitry Pchelintsev, Andrei Chernov, Arman Sagynbaev and Vasily Kuksov were arrested on charges of participation in the “Network” (Part 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code). Another person involved in the case, Yegor Zorin, was placed under house arrest.
• The defendants in the Network case talked about psychological pressure, electric shock torture and weapons that FSB officers planted on them. Some of them refused to confess and said that they gave them under torture.
• In January, anti-fascist Viktor Filinkov was detained in St. Petersburg. He is also accused of participating in the Network. Filinkov admitted guilt, but later stated that he did it under torture. Members of the Public Monitoring Commission of St. Petersburg recorded numerous traces of burns from a stun gun on the anti-fascist’s body. Businessman Igor Shishkin is involved in the same case; he did not report torture, but the Public Monitoring Committee also recorded injuries on his body. Investigative actions in St. Petersburg were authorized by one of the district courts of Penza.
• On April 11, another St. Petersburg resident, Yuli Boyarshinov, was charged in the case. FSB officers demanded that Boyarshinov “speak,” threatening to “make things worse.” As a result, the young man was transferred to another pre-trial detention center with, according to the lawyer, tortured conditions.
• On July 5, two more defendants in the case were arrested in Penza - Mikhail Kulkov and Maxim Ivankin. They were accused of preparing for the production or sale of drugs on a large scale (clause “d” of Part 4 of Article 228.1 of the Criminal Code with the use of Part 3 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code). In June, the case of Ivankin and Kulkov was added to the case of the Network organization. Before this, the young people were detained in March 2017 along with anti-fascist Alexey Poltavets and accused of drug possession. According to Poltavets, after their arrest they were tortured and beaten, demanding to testify against their friends from the anti-fascist environment.