“Remember us? Did you miss me?

The former military man is detained and tortured by the same security forces. What they want from him is unclear even after the seventh arrest

In the spring of 2022, ex-military Timofey Rudenko was arrested several times in a row under far-fetched pretexts, and then tortured and forced to confess to plotting terrorist attacks. After a month in detention, he was released, and a year later, when he tried to leave the country, history repeated itself - now he is under arrest for the seventh time. Kholod talked to him and his mother Yulia and tells what is known about this case.

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“They put a towel over their heads and started pouring water”

Around noon on May 7, 2022, a capture group broke into the Moscow rented apartment of 30-year-old former military man Timofey Rudenko. Among the security forces were three police officers from the local department and three more - wearing masks and without identification marks. It is these people who, according to Timothy, will detain him again in a year. Immediately after the search, during which the security forces took documents, phones and personal records, torture began.

“They used the same interrogation methods as in the Second Chechen War. They put handcuffs on my hands and feet, twisted them to the limit. They put a towel over his head and started pouring water. They beat him with a stun gun in the neck, stomach, fingers and between the legs, ”Timofey himself, who is now serving another arrest, told Kholod.

According to his mother Yulia, the bullying did not end there. She said that the security forces found a black marker and painted her son's body. “Swastikas were on the chest, face and arms. And in this form, in a T-shirt, sweatpants and slippers, he was brought to the department, ”she says.

There the beatings and torture continued. Timofey himself says that the security forces demanded that he confess to preparing a terrorist attack on May 9th. “They threatened to rape my nephews, my wife. When they came to the reception center in Sakharovo, they said that they would deal with my mother, ”he recalls.

On May 9, 2022, the Perovsky District Court arrested Timofey for 10 days under the article on petty hooliganism. And two days later, the same court received an administrative case against him under the article on the demonstration of extremist symbols. The reason was the drawings in his notebook - with the flag of Ukraine and the Azov detachment. However, the judge returned the case to the police "to remedy the shortcomings". After that, it never went to court. “The judge did not find the corpus delicti. After May 11, there was no more word about this, ”says Yulia.

After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Tymofiy wrote several anti-war comments on VKontakte. According to his mother, he himself does not remember verbatim the content of these posts, but they were "against the SVO."

“Since the beginning of the special operation, everyone has developed their own kind of civil position in relation to these events. We live in this country. This applies to each of us. In social networks, he expressed his position, as far as I understand, ”said Yulia.

When the term of the first administrative arrest ended, Timofei was not allowed to leave the special detention center. He was immediately detained, and the court again arrested him under the article on petty hooliganism. This time for 15 days. Timofey was arrested for the third time under the same article on June 2. This was the last arrest in 2022.

“At the exit from the detention center, they gave me a new phone and a SIM card. They told me to contact them in two hours. They said that they would give a point where to come and further instructions. I decided not to go so that they would not put some kind of pistol or explosive device in my hand,” he recalls.

"Children have fun"

After these events, for almost a year, Timofey did not encounter the security forces. All this time he worked in a car service to pay off a loan that went to pay for a lawyer. In the spring, he decided to fly to the girl in Bishkek. On May 18, 2023, he was detained at the entrance to the Zhukovsky airport by the same security forces as last year.

“A person goes with a purchased plane ticket, does not hide from anyone, is not afraid of anything, because he did nothing. Three people in balaclavas approach him, put a bag over his head, handcuff him and push him into the car. They did not show any documents, pushed him into the car and drove away. This is a kidnapping in fact, ”says Yulia.

Timofey was taken to the police station in handcuffs, which were additionally fastened to a weight. According to Yulia, on the way her son was beaten with electric shocks and mocked. “They stopped, pulled him out of the car, put his head under the wheel and threatened to run him over. They wondered if he remembered them, if he missed them. The kids were having fun,” she says.

The next day, the court arrested Timofey for 15 days, all under the same article on petty hooliganism. He himself says that he does not understand the true reason for the series of arrests: “Why are these three people without witnesses, police officers and documents just putting a bag over my head and taking me somewhere?”

Since then, Timofei has been arrested three more times. According to his mother, as soon as he leaves the detention center, he is put into a car and taken to the police station. There, a new protocol on petty hooliganism is drawn up against him, and then the court makes a decision on arrest.

“Only once he was able to get out of the detention center. There was already a car in the area. They were the same gray masked men who had been following him since last year. They came for him purposefully, they were waiting for him to come out of the door, ”says Yulia.

“They don’t like the former military man, who for some reason went against the system”

After Timofey published anti-war comments on VKontakte, a certain person wrote to him, who began to ask him provocative questions. His mother does not know what exactly was discussed then, and Timofey himself did not have time to tell Kholod about this, since he had only a few minutes to call from the special detention center.

“I have not seen this correspondence. In general, I can say this: I offered to join some organization. He asked his son if he wanted to, what title he had. Timothy replied that he was not interested. And he will not do anything like that, ”says Yulia. She also says that her son did not participate in rallies and other protests. “I would really like to understand why the security forces are persecuting my son. During this year, my health has deteriorated greatly, I don’t understand what is happening, ”says Yulia.

Timofey Rudenko, like his mother, also does not understand why he is arrested, tortured, forced to testify, and then released. He told Kholod that during one of the arrests in 2022, under torture, he confessed that he was preparing a terrorist attack, and even signed a statement.

“They beat out testimonies that I allegedly planned terrorist attacks throughout the country, prepared sabotage, was engaged in personnel training and so on. They then printed this record and took it to court, but the judges rejected it, ”says Timofey.

This year, according to him, the security forces do not demand anything, but only threaten and mock: “They threw words that I should go somewhere as a volunteer, and if I refuse, they will rape me. Some kind of nonsense. Well, they don't like a man, a former military man, who for some reason went against the system. Who allowed himself to somehow openly raise his head and say that he does not agree with what is happening.

Now he is serving another 15 days under the article on petty hooliganism - this is the fourth administrative arrest this year and the seventh since the beginning of the war. Rudenko was supposed to be released from the special detention center in Istra on June 24, but he was never released. For two days his whereabouts were unknown. On June 27, Rudenko's mother said that he was now being held in Moscow Special Detention Center No. 2.