Profile Azat Miftakhov

Azat Miftakhov is a graduate student of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of the Moscow State University and a left-wing activist. He has been kept in remand prison since February 1, 2019. The charges against him are vague and have been changed over time. Azat is unable to continue his dissertation work and his family is frequently receiving threats.

Azat Miftakhov, a graduate student of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, was abducted by security forces on February 1, 2019.

He was tortured and repeatedly pressured to sign a false confession of assembling a makeshift explosive. Azat's statements on torture are verified by his lawyer, members of a Public Supervisory Commission and several other activists who were brought for interrogations in the same facility.

After the case had to be dismissed on the 7th of February due to absence of evdence, he was immediately arrested again and charged with throwing a smoke bomb at the office of "United Russia", the governing party of Russia.

The only evidence in support of the current case against Azat is a testimony of a masked anonymous witness, who said that he recognized Azat by his expressive eyebrows over a year after the alleged crime. Why he had not reported being a witness back then, also remains a question.

Azat remains in prison, with his detention period being prolonged every 2 months.