"With the name of Old Man Makhno." How Azat Miftakhov was judged

In the Golovinsky Court of Moscow, the trial in the criminal case on the attack by anarchists on the office of United Russia ended. The accused on him, among others, is a mathematician, a graduate student of Moscow State University Azat Miftakhov. Last week, the state prosecution requested six years of a general regime colony for him. Throughout the process of Miftakhov, not only social activists, but also members of the scientific community supported. On the eve of the debate of mathematics from all over the world, a letter was published with a demand for its liberation. "MBH Media" tells the history of the criminal case and its most famous defendant .

Winter and fire

January 30, 2018. The clock was almost midnight. Muscovite Elena Bulavskaya was about to go to bed, when she suddenly heard a roar from the street-as if something heavy had fallen. Together with her husband, they ran to the window and saw a hastyly retreating silhouette in the courtyard of the house. At that moment, Elena felt the smell of Gary and ran out into the porch. The smell felt the neighbors. They met in the corridor and went down the street. On the ground floor of their house was the office of the district branch of the United Russia party, the window was broken in it. “And the smell of Gary spread throughout the porch,” the woman recalled.

Soon to house number 53, building 4 on Onezhskaya Street in the Khovrino area, Leonid Trusov, the head of the EP office, drove up. He called the eldest house and reported that the office was on. I looked around in the place of Trusov, but I did not see a fire - on the floor next to the fragments of the broken glass lay only a false factory, which managed to burn a small section of linoleum, and the documents smoldered. Then the unicorn, together with the residents, decided to see the notes from the video surveillance camera. On the recording of panties I saw a group of young people in black masks. One of them broke the window, and then someone else abandoned something into the room-what exactly, it was impossible to understand by record.

I did not see the faces of the attackers of the panties. “There were men, for sure, a girl of short stature, the guy who beat [the window] was a little hunched ...”, the unineruss recalled. After viewing the recording, he called the police, and then wrote a statement. Taking explanations from possible witnesses, the security forces opened a criminal case of vandalism (Article 214 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and began the search for young people.

Cleaning and anarchists

Winter and spring 2018 were remembered by a huge number of detentions of both left and right activists throughout the country (the case of the “network” appeared a few months earlier). Activists themselves then associated the activity of the security forces with the presidential elections approaching in March. At that time, the affairs of the “new greatness”, the “black bloc” of nationalists appeared, searches were carried out by members of the “Left Bloc” in the Tula region. “Then, in general, all such groups shook before the elections,” one of the participants in the anarchist movement of that time recalled in a conversation with the MBH Media, “The goal is to clean all before the elections so that everything was calm. “Ashniki” then boasted on their channels [searches], posted photos. ”

On February 10, the inconsistent procession of anarchists and anti -fascists along Myasnitskaya Street took place in Moscow. They supported the defendants in the case of the “network” and carried a banner with the slogan: “FSB is the main terrorist.” Already on February 13, the security forces broke into the apartment of one of the participants in this action, eco -activists and workers of one of the research centers in Moscow Elena Gorban. After the search, the girl was detained and taken to the police department for interrogation. On the same day, the security forces detained another young man - Alexei Kobaidze. Around the same time, two more activists were detained - Andrei Sekin and Svyatoslav Rechkalov. As it turned out, the reason was not their participation in the procession, but suspicions of involvement in the attack on the United Russia office.

During the interrogation, Elena Gorban did not deny that she adheres to anarchist views since about 2015, when she subscribed to the VKontakte public with the name “People’s Self -Defense”. There she talked with subscribers, who "were also interested in the ideas of anarchism." Later they began to meet in Kuskovo Park. Gorban was increasingly interested in anarchism: I watched thematic videos, attended lectures by the philosopher Peter Ryabov. Together with the participants in the public, the girl participated in processions, “the purpose of which was the criticism of certain events in society, including criticism of the current government,” as it later sounded in court. At the same time, it was in no case in any parties and movements, as she herself said to the investigator.

Promotion "Catch hype"

In addition to VK, young people talked in the Wire messenger. One of the participants in the chat was Alexei Kobaidze. At his interrogation, he said that he had a Kkoba nickname there, and Elena Gorban had Raksha. Kobaidze did not consider himself a leftist, but some ideas in the public of "folk self -defense" attracted him. And he became friends with Elena Gorban and young people sometimes spent time together. In addition, Kobaidze was not averse to participating in any action-as he said, in order to “catch a hype” and attract attention.

Also in the chat there was a young man under the nickname Grothendieck (the name of the French mathematician Alexander Grothendik, as investigators draw the conclusions, confirms that the mathematician Azat Miftakhov was hiding behind the nickname), who, according to Kobaidze, in January 2018 and proposed to hold an action in the United Russia office.

In the same month, Elena Gorban, Alexei Kobaidze and three more people, whose names young people could not recall in interrogations, met in the rake cafe at Pushkinskaya to discuss the attack on the United Russia office. They agreed that the best option would be to break the window and throw a smoke saber there.

A few days later, Gorban and Kobaidze went to Onezhskaya Street and studied the terrain, in particular, they recorded that the site near the office was covered by “only two video surveillance cameras”. Then all the participants in the rally wrote off in the messenger and decided on the date of its holding - January 30. On the appointed day, young people met at the Voikovskaya metro station. In total, according to Gorban and Kobaidze, six people gathered. Kobaidze clarified: in order to conspiracy "they did not communicate with each other, but maintained visual contact." All six reached the metro “Water Stadium” and moved to the bus. We went out at the right stop and went to the courtyard near the EP office.

Kobaidze took a hammer from the house in advance to beat meat and handed it to the hunchback. She had to break the window for them, and Kobaidze - to throw a smoke saber inside. The third participant, Andrei Sekin, was supposed to take everything on the phone. In the rally, Yequin took part, as he himself admitted to impress Gorban and for the sake of "acute sensations." Two more people were supposed to observe the perimeter in case an outsider appeared. The sixth member of the group - a girl - according to Elena Gorban, just sat on the bench and did not take any participation in what was happening.

Before the rally, as its participants assured during the investigation, the young people were convinced that there was no one inside the office so that no one would suffer. “Moreover, I understood that the smoke bomb itself, except for smoke, would not cause any harm,” said Kobaidze. Gorban also subsequently, in the debate in court, he will say about this. The action began at the go -ahead of the operator inkin. Everything went according to plan. After the saber was thrown into the office, the young people ran away, and then went home. The next day, a video of the promotion was published in the public “People’s Self -Defense”.

"People's Self -Defense" and Elekwell

Anarchist Svyatoslav Rechkalov was detained in March 2018. He talked about his detention in the details of the OVD-Info: they put them in a minibus, put a bag on his head, and beat them with electric shock. Rechkalov in the center of "E" is considered almost the leader of the anarchist movement, if not the whole of Russia, then at least Moscow. After an electric shocker in a minibus during interrogation, he said that he created the Narodnaya Self -Defense movement and the public “VKontakte” of the same name. Rechkalov said that the purpose of this community was to fight raiders, scammers and negligent employers. In the public, reports from the shares held were laid out, sometimes the announcements of political pickets or processions were posted. During the interrogation, Rechkalov denied that he posted in the group of a video attack on the Office of United Russia. Nevertheless, he became a defendant in the case.

“In 2017-2018, as a whole, anarchist activity increased. Hundreds of shares were held in different cities on different topics. I didn't like it. They said that all because of me, ”said Svyatoslav Rechkalov, MBH Media. During the interrogation, he specified, his lawyer sat down nearby in the headphones, burying himself in the phone.

After the detention of Rechkalov, they put in an IVS for a couple of days, and then, under the pressure of social activists and publicity, in the media was released on a recognizance not to leave. Soon, Rechkalov left the country and received political asylum in France. Alexei Kobaidze did the same. The investigation has allocated cases against them in a separate production.

The matter of the remaining defendants - Elena Gorban and Andrei Hele - was re -qualified for a more difficult article on hooliganism (Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), on it the maximum punishment is 7 years in prison. And the third accused in the case was the mathematician and graduate student of Moscow State University Azat Miftakhov.

Secret witnesses and "expressive eyebrows"

In the case of Miftakhov appeared a year later. In February 2019, he was detained on suspicion of involvement in the manufacture of a home -made explosive device, which was found a year before in Balashikha. Miftakhov announced torture with a screwdriver and talked about his innocence. On February 7, he was released from the IVS, but after a few minutes they again detained. This time in the case of an attack on the EP office.

Indications against Azat Miftakhov were given secret witnesses to the “guard” and “Petrov”. The “guard”, in particular, called Miftakhov a participant in the Narodnaya Self -Defense movement since 2014. He said that the "ideological anarchist, ready to sacrifice personal for the general goal - the construction of an anarchist society." In his testimony, the “Karaulnaya” also said that he participated in joint actions with Miftakhov, Gorban and Rechkalov. At the same time, Miftakhov noted, the secret witness noted, constantly called on his associates to “increase the bar” and move from stirring leaflets to “radical shares” using smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails. “The anarchist must be ready for the onset of the revolutionary situation and own the skills of owning a partisan battle,” so, according to the “guard,” said Azat Miftakhov at meetings.

The “guard” during interrogation, and then in court, said that in 2017 he stopped being a participant in “people's self -defense” due to the fact that his views had changed. “Like our inkin, thank God,” as the prosecutor will then add in the debate in this case, bearing in mind that the accused Helechin fully pleaded guilty and repented. During the interrogation of the “guard” in court, he could not answer clarifying questions regarding the shares and training of the group in which he allegedly participated. But he stated that there were no leaders in the “People’s Self -Defense”, but Azat Miftakhov “on the shares directed the participants to the right place”. By the time of the attack on the United Russia office, the witness had already left the movement. Who is hiding behind the pseudonym "Guard" is still unknown.

The second secret witness “Petrov” stated that late in the evening of January 30, 2018 he walked near the office of the “EP” and issued young people who were talking about something. He decided to follow them, and saw how they broke the window and threw it into the room, which at first set fire, "and he smoked." Already a year later, after they showed the plot about the detention of a graduate student at Moscow State University Miftakhov on TV, he “unexpectedly” recognized him. “Petrov” told the investigators that it was he who was among the young people who attacked the party office, and he recognized Miftakhov “according to expressive eyebrows”.

In court, “Petrov” was not able to speak, since in January 2020 it was announced in court that he had died “from a heart attack”. Lawyers and Elena Gorban insisted that Petrov could not identify any of the participants in the action: it was dark, and the viewing angle from the position, where, judging by the testimony, “Petrov” was not allowed to do this, even if the witness had seen well in the dark.

Nevertheless, Azatu Miftakhov, along with the rest, was charged with hooliganism. The investigation believes that he was at the venue of the action - he stood “in the noise”.

Old Man Makhno and Peter Kropotkin

Speaking in the debate in court on the twentieth of December, the state prosecutor noted that she considers the guilt of all the defendants, including Miftakhov, fully proven. Moreover, the prosecutor emphasized, they committed "it was hooliganism out of political hatred."

“All three at the time of the action were in an anarchist organization. And as everyone knows who graduated from the Law Institute, what anarchy is - this is the complete absence of the state. Of course, Kropotkin’s works are entitled to exist, but as for this criminal case, we are considering hooliganism, ”the state prosecutor said in the debate.

She noted that Gorban and Heler have no aggravating circumstances, so she requested conditional terms for them - 4 and 2 years, respectively. Regarding Azat Miftakhova, the prosecutor noted that in March 2018 he was convicted under the article on the provision of resistance to the police officer (Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) at one of the protest shares and sentenced to a fine. In addition, he was brought to administrative responsibility for storing weapons. “This act resonates with our business,” said the prosecutor and requested 6 years of real term for Miftakhov.

In the debate, Yequin pleaded guilty and repented. But he insisted that Azat Miftakhov was not for promotions with them. Elena Gorban also denied the presence of Miftakhova’s shares, as well as the fact of arson - after all, a smoke bomb was used. She asked to justify all the defendants, her lawyer Nikita Taranishchenko agreed with her: there are no victims in the case, so he cannot be qualified even under the 167th article (“damage to property”). The lawyer noted that the United Russia “rich, they have a lot of money”, so the actions of his client cannot be considered serious harm. In addition, the representative of United Russia in court confirmed that for them this is not a damage and a civil lawsuit was not filed. Losses from a broken window, the United Russia spoke in court, cost 48 thousand rubles, no one demanded that this money be compensated for the defendants.

Lawyer Azat Miftakhova Svetlana Sidorkina said that her client was pursued only because he is an anarchist. Sidorkina said that after the terrorist attack in Arkhangelsk, when anarchist Mikhail Zhlobitsky blew himself up in the reception of the FSB, the security forces rushed to clean the anarchist movement. Mifthi also fell under the stripping. “In the representation of the investigation authorities, anarchism was associated and associated with the name of the Old Man Makhno period of the Civil War of a century ago, and is associated with chaos and riots of that time,” Sidorkina explained. Miftakhov came into the view of the investigation, she believes, because he was active as an anarchist. But he did not take part in the action with the attack on the office. The lawyer asked to take into account that Miftakhov is a “talented mathematician” and justify him.

In his last word, Azat Miftakhov did not deny his anarchist views. He admitted that he participated in rallies, distributed leaflets, "there were also an underground stocks, such as hanging banners in support of political prisoners and marching." He stated that he was engaged in the fight against "employers who deceive his workers and with apartment raiders." All this, according to Miftakhov, was the reason “for revenge by employees of the E -E Center. Azat Miftakhov completed his speech with the words that few were convicted by the action with the attack on the United Russia office, while “many people could well have considered this matter useful, because, we all know that the United Russia party is not widely loved by our people.” Nevertheless, he did not recognize himself as a participant in this action.

The court will be sentenced in this case on January 11. Gorban and Yokin are waiting for him at large, under the subscription about the lower away. Miftakhov - in jail.