The case of anarchist Yevgeny Karakashev: two videos, an article about terrorism and false evidence

At the end of 2017 - early 2018, a new wave of persecution of anarchists and anti -fascists unfolded in Russia. In addition to the case of the “network”, according to which 11 people pass, the repressions also touched Evgeny Karakashev - anarchist from Crimea. At the end of September, in different cities of Russia, left -wing activists who were not even familiar with the arrested anarchist began to call for interrogations as witnesses. OVD-Info tells the story of this matter.

February. About seven o'clock in the morning. A strong, incessant knock on the door. Valentina Karakasheva asks her son Zhenya who could be. “I don't know,” he answers her. An elderly woman with glasses opens the door. The FSB officer sends a weapon to her. A team of operatives is broken into the house. Anarchist Yevgeny Karakashev is felled to the floor and fasten the handcuffs behind him. In this position, on the cold floor, he is left to lie for several hours, not allowing his mother to close the door to the street. At some point, Karakashev is still allowed to rise from the floor. The whole search lasted seven hours. After the detention of the anarchist, a hematoma appeared on his face in the area of ​​the temple and abrasion on his knees. Investigator Algiz Abushev will explain this by the fact that the man resisted the FSB officers during the detention. Calling the lawyer Karakashev was allowed only in the evening.

Environmental protection and mayor of Evpatoria

A criminal case against a 39-year-old anarchist from Yevpatoria was opened on January 31, 2018. The next day he was detained, and on February 2 - they took it under arrest.

In the pre -trial detention center, Simferopol Karakashev met his fortieth birthday. According to the lawyer, on October 28, his client probably had a hypertensive crisis. At least, Karakashev himself told him, who has a medical education. Also, anarchist in the pre -trial detention center worsened the old injury to the ligament of the shoulder. Now the defender has prepared all the documents so that the doctors conduct a medical examination of Karakashev.

Before the arrest, Karakashev worked as a medical officer in one of the sanatoriums of Yevpatoria. In addition, he participated in anti -fascist actions and was engaged in eco -protection.

On the day of detention, the activist wanted to come to a public hearing about the construction of the medical and entertainment complex "Aqua Evpatoria", which they plan to build near the village of Zaozernny. Local residents opposed: construction will be carried out directly on the territory of the Liman with medical mud.

At public hearings, the mayor of Yevpatoria Andrei Filonov first told the audience about a certain group of opposing development of citizens, and then said : “Do you know about today's detentions morning? You know, probably. This morning, the FSB held the detention of a certain group of people. You will learn everything when this information becomes public. ” To clarify who was talking about, he refused.

Two videos and VKontakte

Later it became known that the detainee is called Evgeny Karakashev. He was charged under an article on public calls for terrorism (part 2 of article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). The investigation believes that the anarchist allegedly published a certain video on one of his pages on VKontakte at the end of 2014.

According to lawyer Alexei Ladin, even before the initiation of a criminal case, in the summer of 2017, Karakashev called to the FSB and showed him this video.

“[There] he explained that this video in principle never saw, especially since he did not distribute. But so far, as part of the preliminary investigation, we are refused to show this video and any evidence that Eugene distributed it, ”says Ladin.

In addition, the decision to attract Karakashev as the accused said that in 2017 Karakashev sent a certain text to an unnamed chat. However, the document itself states that experts analyzed precisely the “teletecst”, which begins with the words “use a grenade against” and ending with the words “through the windows of the authorities. Good luck!".

The defense has not yet been able to get acquainted with the materials in connection with which the charge was charged under the article on the promotion of terrorism.

There is a second article of the accusation-the excitement of hatred or enmity to the “any social group” (part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, Karakashev, from his other page, sent a video with the name “The Last Word of the Primorsky Partisans 10/11/2010” in a closed chat in VKontakte, where there were 35 people. The investigation believes that Karakashev renamed the name of the video of the Last Interview of the Primorsky Partisans before publication in the chat, which is included in the list of extremist materials.

False wards and chats

Anarchist Sergey Vasilchenko was detained on November 3, 2016. He was arrested for 10 days on charges of spreading extremist materials. On October 20, he released a video message in which he says that he was afraid of criminal prosecution and is on the run.

Almost two years later, Sergei Vasilchenko became the main witness in the Karakashev case and testifies against the former comrade.

“There was a confrontation at which Vasilchenko explains that Karakashev allegedly forced him to be ordered to distribute a video that Karakashev did not remember and deny and because of which he was opened in an article 205,” says Ladin.

At the end of September 2018, investigator Abushev from Evpatoria called a public activist from St. Petersburg from St. Petersburg for a conversation about Evgenia Karakashev. He was interested in whether Koretsky was in Yevpatoria and whether he knew the arrested anarchist.

“I said that [with him] was not familiar, I was not in Yevpatoria and in general in the Crimea was more than six years ago. Regarding Karakashev, nothing surfaced in my memory, I then googled and found out that this is a person who was judged by the article on calls for terrorism, ”said Koretsky.

Abushev also told the activist that he had information from counterintelligence, according to which Koretsky allegedly consisted with Karakashev in two common chats in Vkontakte: “Anarchists of Sevastopol” and “Info Narnia”. After the conversation, the activist checked his chats, but among them he did not find those that the investigator spoke of. In October, Koretsky was summoned for interrogation in St. Petersburg, where they asked similar questions. Now he is going on in the case of Karakashev as a witness.

In mid-October, investigator Abushev called another left activist from Moscow (the man asked not to indicate his name and surname in the text- OTD-info ). The activist invited him to talk on the phone, but Abushev did not agree. After that he was called for interrogation - they sent a summons to WhatsApp. The activist went for interrogation with a lawyer. The investigator asked him questions about whether he was familiar with the arrested anarchist; whether it consists in the chat "Info Narnia"; Did Karakashev knew extremist materials in this chat. The activist really consists in this chat, but reads it “very rarely”, and Karakasheva only knows “briefly”. The activist, like Koretsky, is in the status of a witness in this case.

In October 2018, Abushev called the left activist Natalya from Sevastopol. He invited her to "talk" about the case of Karakashev. She has not yet been sent any agenda, Natalya did not go to any conversation. OVD-Info Natalya said that she does not know Karakasheva, but suggests that they may “walked together in one column on one of the anti-fascist actions”. The activist also admits that Karakashev could be in her friends in VKontakte, but she cannot confidently say this, because he “does not check” who consists in her friends.

“The last basis for extending the term of detention, including the need to receive answers to individual instructions on the fact of interrogations of activists throughout Russia. Who communicated or could communicate with Karakashev, ”says Karakasheva’s lawyer.

The resolution on the extension of the arrest (is at the disposal of the ATS-Info) says that the investigator issued an order to receive answers from 16 investigative committees of different regions of Russia. Among them are seven from Crimea, three from Moscow, two from St. Petersburg, two from Sevastopol, one from the Moscow region and one from the Samara region. What answers are in question, the decision is not specified.

According to Ladin, the instructions were sent in late September - early October 2018. Around the same time, investigator Abushev began to call activists, and then they began to call them for interrogations. Some of the activists got in touch with lawyer Ladin and, according to him, one of them did not know Karakashev at all. Given these data, it can be assumed that in the resolution on the extension of the arrest is about interrogations of left -wing activists from these regions and cities of Russia.

“A person has been sitting since February 1, 2018. And after 8–9 months, the investigator begins to intensively search and interrogate someone. The question is, what prevented him from doing the same thing much earlier? It seems to me that these interrogations are an imitation of violent activity. <...> either they cannot agree on the final charge with the prosecutor’s office-Rostov-on-Don. Because the court will be there. Or they have some other difficulties. But in fact, no investigative actions with Karakashev in the framework of a criminal case happened and did not happen, ”said Ladin.