Mathematician Azat Miftakhov's arrest extended for another three months

The Golovinsky District Court of Moscow extended until March 4, 2021 the arrest of mathematician Azat Miftakhov, accused in the case of a broken window in the United Russia office. This was reported by the telegram channel “FreeAzat!”

Thus, Miftakhov will remain in the pre-trial detention center for at least three more months. The young man participated in the meeting via video link.

The prosecutor at the trial stated that the extension of the arrest is necessary due to the fact that the grounds taken into account at the last hearing have not changed. Miftakhov's lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina, in turn, stated that over the many months of arrest, circumstances could not help but change, and weighty justification is needed to make such a decision.

The next hearing in the Miftakhov case will take place on December 4 at 12:30.

At the end of October, lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina reported that Miftakhov was interrogated in a pre-trial detention center on a new case of manufacturing explosives (Part 1 of Article 223.1 of the Criminal Code). Security forces allegedly found an explosive device near the police department in the Balashikha microdistrict in 2019 and connected him with Miftakhov. At the same time, the very first detention of Miftakhov in 2019 was also connected with an explosive device found in the Balashikha forest.

• Azat Miftakhov was detained on February 1, 2019 in the case of manufacturing explosives (Part 1 of Article 223.1 of the Criminal Code). He was taken to the Balashikha police department, where, according to him, they tortured him with a screwdriver. On February 4, the court was supposed to choose a preventive measure for the anarchist in the case, but the hearing was postponed for 72 hours - the investigation did not provide data proving the need for his arrest, the prosecutor argued. The case under this article was eventually dropped.
• On February 7, 2019, Miftakhov was released from the police department, but was detained again - this time in the case of a broken window in the United Russia office. The investigation into this case was suspended in September 2018. According to investigators, on January 30, 2018, Miftakhov, Andrey Eikin, Elena Gorban and Alexey Kobaidze broke a window in the United Russia office and threw a smoke bomb there. Miftakhov was charged with hooliganism (Part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code) and was sent under arrest. Evidence of his involvement in the window incident came from the testimony of a secret witness who claimed that he recognized the anarchist by his “expressive eyebrows.”