The St. Petersburg City Court reduced the arrest term for Viktor Filinkov, a defendant in the Network case.

The St. Petersburg City Court overturned the decision to extend the arrest of anti-fascist Viktor Filinkov, a defendant in the “Network” case, for three months. The court issued a new decision, according to which Filinkov will remain in custody for another 20 days. Vitaly Cherkasov, a lawyer for the Agora International Human Rights Group, who represents Filinkov’s interests in court, wrote about this on his Facebook.

On October 19, the Dzerzhinsky District Court extended Filinkov’s detention until January 22. The court will have to reconsider the investigator's request to extend the arrest of the accused. Cherkasov wrote that he has not yet been provided with a reasoning ruling from the court.

In a conversation with Mediazna, the defense lawyer suggested that the reason for such a decision could be Filinkov’s absence at the meeting on October 19. At that moment he was in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Nizhny Novgorod, where he was temporarily taken on his way from Penza to St. Petersburg.

• According to investigators, “Network” is a terrorist organization, which allegedly has cells in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Penza and Belarus. In total, 11 anarchists and anti-fascists from St. Petersburg and Penza are involved in the case. The investigation believes that community members were preparing terrorist attacks in Russia in order to raise an armed rebellion.
• The defendants in the Network case talked about psychological pressure, electric shock torture, and that FSB officers planted weapons on them. Some of the accused refused to confess, saying that they had given them under torture.
• Anti-fascist Viktor Filinkov was arrested in January. He also initially admitted guilt, but then said 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 young man’s body. Victor said that one of the FSB officers who tortured him threatened that if he refused to confess, the anti-fascist would go to another region “in a car with specialists.” Since October, it has become known that Filinkov’s health has deteriorated significantly, but he is not prescribed treatment.