Far-right groups publish scenes of torture during the arrest of suspected terrorists and call for xenophobic attacks

On March 23-24, 2024, against the backdrop of a terrible terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, the far right actively published on their resources scenes with illegal methods that were used to detain alleged terrorists. On March 25, a call for racist attacks appeared in one of the Telegram channels.

On March 23, neo-Nazi and former member of the ultra-right unit of the DSRG “Rusich” Evgeniy (Topaz) Rasskazov published a video on his Telegram channel where a piece of the ear of one of the detainees in the Bryansk region is cut off. He also published a photo of one of those involved in the arrest, dressed in camouflage clothing with a chevron with the “Black Sun” symbol, popular among neo-Nazis, on the sleeve. Later, Topaz announced an auction on his channel with an appeal to buy the bloody knife that was used to cut off his ear.

Another far-right leader, the leader of the “Male State,” Vladislav Pozdnyakov, in his Telegram channel since March 24, posted photographs with scenes of severe beatings and torture during the detention of four alleged terrorists and actively expressed approval of the actions of the detainees. (Quote: “About the ear, the missing eye, etc., they are doing everything right. This is a very good media effect...”). So, on March 25, he published a photograph of one of the detainees lying on the floor without pants with wires near his genitals, supplemented by an audio file of screams. Pozdnyakov commented on one of the photographs as follows: “19-year-old Muhammadsobir Fayzov was the one who recorded the video during the terrorist attack in Crocus.” During his arrest, Muhammadsobir's eye accidentally fell out of his socket. In front of journalists, Fayzov did not open his eyes or speak; he had a catheter installed on...” Pozdnyakov presented some of the videos as exclusive.

On March 25, a call for racist attacks after the terrorist attack appeared on the Telegram channel NS/WP ( recognized as terrorist in Russia in 2021). “...Now is the best time to go out into the street, attack a h... and publish a video, or at least distribute other people's shares in all possible ways... While emotions are boiling, you should make the most of the situation and replace it in your heads people's everyday xenophobia and conscious racial hatred...” The call spread across many neo-Nazi Telegram channels. Videos with scenes of the tragedy were supplemented by calls for revenge for those killed in Crocus City Hall.

One of the anti-fascist Telegram channels noted that the ultra-right, “who now thirst for bloody retribution and demand the return of the death penalty,” were outraged in 2020 that the leader of Russian neo-Nazis Maxim (Tesak) Martsinkevich was “tortured to death in a pre-trial detention center.”

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations at the time of publication, more than 139 people died in Crocus City Hall on March 22, and more than 180 were injured. We sympathize with all the victims, everyone who lost their loved ones as a result of this attack, and we believe that the perpetrators should be severely punished for this crime.

At the same time, we support the statement of Russian human rights activists on the prohibition of torture, published on the Public Verdict website and a similar statement by the Team Against Torture. “Torture, which one is proud of and demonstratively presents to society, is the path to further expanding the scope of acceptable violence in society and normalizing crime in law enforcement agencies themselves,” the human rights activists said in their appeal.

Sources

• Based on materials from far-right Telegram channels.