Moscow court arrests anti-fascist Bogdan Yakimenko in case of creating extremist community

The Simonovsky District Court of Moscow has arrested anti-fascist Bogdan Yakimenko in connection with the case of creating an extremist community (Part 1 of Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code). Mediazona found information about this in the database of Moscow courts.

The decision to arrest Yakimenko was made on June 7. As human rights activist and former political prisoner Ivan Astashin writes , the anti-fascist is currently in Moscow's pretrial detention center No. 7.

Yakimenko was detained on June 5 in Rostov-on-Don. On the same day, seven people were detained in Moscow in connection with this case. According to the security forces, Yakimenko led the Antifa United community. According to the Investigative Committee, the anti-fascists "engaged in involving individuals, including minors" and "planning hate crimes <…> against law enforcement officers" (parts 1, 2 of Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code).

In May 2023, a Moscow court sentenced Yakimenko to four years of correctional labor for hooliganism in a fight with neo-Nazis, who attacked him and his friend Mikhail Ivanov in a group of eight. The anti-fascists said that after their arrest, Center E officer Alexei Okopny threatened them and offered to "fight one-on-one," and FSB officers "persuaded them to cooperate."