“His unbending will and intellect are worth a hundred Zonov bulls”

The story of a former prisoner of the Kirov colony where Azat Miftakhov was imprisoned: what provocations the jailers staged against the anarchist and how the case was fabricated against him

At the end of March 2024, mathematician and anarchist Azat Miftakhov was sentenced to four years in prison in a criminal case for “justifying terrorism.” Miftakhov did not admit guilt to any of the charges. The case itself arose after a prisoner, whom the anarchist considered a close friend in the colony, testified against the mathematician. The defense and Azat himself have repeatedly said that the case was fabricated. How the security forces “concocted” the necessary evidence against the anarchist was told to “New Europe” by a former prisoner who was imprisoned with Miftakhov.

Before the end of the last term in the case of “hooliganism” for breaking a window in the United Russia office in Moscow (sentenced to six years in prison under Part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - Ed.), reports periodically appeared that Another case is being prepared against Miftakhov. But there were no specifics then. Initially, Azat was detained in February 2019 in the case of explosives found in Balashikha - the investigation did not find any evidence then, but the case was not closed; There were also suggestions that Miftakhov was going to be brought to trial in the Network case. And all this was accompanied by pressure on the mathematician himself: operatives came to him, threatened him with new persecution and demanded that he give the testimony they needed, and before his release he was placed in a punishment cell. But Azat refused to cooperate with the security forces. And, as you know, they do not accept refusals and carry out their threats with particular cynicism.

In September 2023, Miftakhov was detained at the exit from the Kirov colony when his sentence on a hooliganism case expired. The next day after his arrest, the mathematician was sent to a pre-trial detention center, accused of justifying terrorism (Part 1 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The case was led by investigator of the FSB Directorate for the Kirov Region A.A. Ponomarev. According to his version, while in the colony, Miftakhov, while watching TV with other prisoners, approved the act of Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who staged an explosion in the Arkhangelsk FSB department in 2018.

“Implementing my criminal intent, being in the room of educational work <...>, deliberately, with the aim of recognizing the practice of terrorism as correct, in need of support and imitation,

during a conversation with the convicted Trushkov E.A., in the presence of Gadzhimuradov R.E. o. and “Andrey Nikolaevich Naumov” (pseudonym of a secret witness - Ed.), as well as other convicts, publicly made these statements,” the case file says. Actually, these three testified against Miftakhov.

Speaking with the last word in the Central District Military Court of Yekaterinburg, Azat said that the security forces falsified evidence in his case in the same way “as it was five years ago,” “the obviousness and impudence of such falsification does not bother them, and even plays into their hands.” . He categorically denies the alleged crime and explained that he argued with other prisoners about the capture of the city of Bakhmut, but did not say anything about Zhlobitsky. Azat is serving his current sentence in Dimitrovgrad prison, Ulyanovsk region.

Timur, a former prisoner at Kirov penal colony No. 17, shared in an interview with Novaya Evropa how the colony staff put pressure on the anarchist, but he did not break, and how the jailers persuaded other prisoners to testify against Miftakhov.

Meet Azat

I ended up in the colony completely for the sake of business - for organizing an escort agency (Articles 240 and 241 - involving and organizing prostitution). There is no secret here, but there is nothing to be proud of either. He was quite far from political activity; Azat and I did not intersect here. He ended up in prison about a year and a half after me. Before he arrived in the zone from quarantine, they already knew about him that he received a record six years for being a hooligan. They don’t give that much to first movers. Nobody in the colony warned us that he was political, they just said through word of mouth that he would come with such a deadline. The nuance was different: we were immediately told that an “offended” person would arrive, not to allow any contact with him and to treat him accordingly.

We met him at work, it was interesting what kind of person he was that he received a huge sentence for such an article. There were rumors that he set fire to the office of United Russia, well, I think, our man, and tried to get in touch with him.

Initially, Azat was not willing to talk. He didn’t say anything about himself, he was very secretive, but he was almost the only one who had intelligence in his eyes. He stood out from the rest of the convicts. This means you can talk to him, he’s an interesting person.

As Azat himself later told me, even when he was in quarantine, during a conversation with the “cops” they “lay out one fact” to him, and they can keep this “fact” silent if he gives the necessary testimony, otherwise they release this “fact” to the masses and he goes out to the colony “offended.” Azat replied that the administration employee actually could not speak to him in prison jargon, it was prohibited, and he also explained to him about some concepts and hierarchy. “I don’t admit anything, do what you want, I don’t care,” Azat added. From such impudence they fell into a precipitate. Azat consciously took such a step, without fear, without relating himself to this system in any way. He later became indignant that they wanted to drag him into a high-profile case [“Network”], to which he had nothing to do.

Torture in the colony

Because of his controversial status, we were not prevented from communicating with him. This is not a colony where all sorts of concepts operated directly. This is a restricted zone, as everything is written in the “book” [internal regulations], almost everything is so. This is not a “red” zone, where those who work for the administration carry out lawlessness, and not a “black” zone, where everything is according to the rules. There were beatings and torture, of course. The region is complex, the torture colony is a bad place.

When I first arrived at the zone, one guy went into quarantine with me. A search is underway, letters, books are torn, everything you brought with you is brazenly destroyed. I don’t know why the IR officer didn’t like that guy. They placed him naked in the swallow position, his arms extended, his forehead touching the wall, a glass of water was placed on the back of his hand, and an employee struck him with a shocker in an area where no traces would be visible: these were his balls and ass. They beat him, he twitched, the glass fell, and then they beat him with their hands and feet. The execution continued until the person held the glass. This, of course, is impossible. They tortured me to suppress my will. As soon as you arrived at the colony, the staff made it clear who was in charge here. It doesn’t matter whether you spoke to them respectfully or not, whether you followed them or not. Almost all of those who were completed went through torture. They also used physical force against me, but such a reasonable minimum, they beat me a little.

They tortured me not only when they met in the penal colony. At the end of 2022, an officer brought one convict into the storeroom, he was beaten along with other employees, doused with brilliant green and his head was shaved. The prisoners decided to contact the Investigative Committee.

Then investigators came to us and said that we could write whatever we wanted, then we’d get a couple more years for libel and that’s it. Nothing will ever happen to an employee, they advised, don’t complicate your life and don’t interfere with your work.

It will be bad for everyone. It is impossible to file a complaint anywhere, because any correspondence goes through a censor. All letters are opened, and if they contain something negative, the person who wrote the statement is called to the operational department and beaten until he changes his mind. It's the same with phone calls.

Betrayal, contract for "SVO" and escape

Enough time passed for Azat and I to talk. When I started to find out about him, it turned out that his fellow Tatar was in the colony. He was imprisoned for terrorism under Section 205. It so happened that we empathized with Azat. As far as possible, he was given the utmost respect from the other prisoners. If someone tried to “pinch” Azat, and there were few such attempts, then this issue was resolved quickly. There was once a conflict at the beginning of 2023, when some Tajik drug addicts - zero intelligence and zero everything - attacked us about status.

Among this team of “offended” was a character named Trushkov. He had a long sentence - 12 years for aggravated gang rape. In general, not a person. He was assigned there [to the caste of the “offended”] immediately.

In May 2022, Azat does the impossible by the standards of the colony. Every year there is a local Victory Parade on the parade ground. Prisoners, in order to receive encouragement and somehow curry favor, assemble some tanks and carts from improvised means. On May 9, the head of the colony comes out and receives the parade. The prisoners walk in formation and sing songs. Some kind of fucking circus! And the cops are standing nearby, laughing at what’s happening. They said that this had never happened in any colony. Azat categorically refused to participate in this circus. To say that everyone was surprised is to say nothing. It was a shock. Naturally, he was locked in a punishment cell.

However, the employees did not give Azat much of a nightmare. They were afraid of him because they saw the support and the strength that stood behind him. Azat was often sent parcels, some books on mathematics, and many letters.

This was given to him selectively. Although they were obliged to give everything away. These are ordinary employees from the nearest village. They've never seen any of this. In order not to get involved again, we tried to get around.

In September, Prigozhin flew to the colony to recruit prisoners. Then they took everyone, except those convicted on all sorts of “sexual and sexual” charges and drug addicts. And more “offended”. Prigozhin then said that those who would go with them now would receive better equipment and money. After them the impoverished army of Russia will come, he said, and you will still go to the battlefield. Well, as time showed, he was right.

In February 2023, I was released, but was in touch with the colony. At that time, they were already recruiting everyone they could into the SVO. The colony staff began to play tricks. Trushkov and two other “passengers” [witnesses in the case, Azat Gadzhimuradov and “Naumov”] were given an offer to sign a petition to send them to the “SVO”. There's still a lot of sitting. They agreed and were told what they needed to do: testify against Azat. This all happened literally two months before my release. It was clear that the ring around Azat was shrinking, and he felt it: all sorts of people from the “office” began to visit him more often. They made it clear that this wouldn’t just end for him. When people are dragged to the operations department, it means it’s for a reason. They saw one, they told the other, and the whole barrack knows that Trushkov went to the operations department. Then two more.

When I was already free, I learned about Azat’s arrest as he was leaving the colony. He was given a five-minute hug with his family and taken to the department. There was contact with the colony, they saw how the guards received him.

At that moment I was busy leaving the country. There was literally no connection with Azat. I knew that he had a wife, Lena, but I didn’t know her. We met thanks to a telegram group in support of Azat. From time to time I saw inappropriate comments there: someone tried to be smart about their status and about all sorts of prison topics. For the sake of fairness, I want to tell you how it really happened.

Trushkov then tried to get in touch with Lena and offered money. His conscience gnaws at him quite strongly. I found out through his “offended” friend: he eventually escaped from the front and is now on the run. It turns out that he betrayed those who hired him and those with whom he was there.

Three against the prison regime

The main contingent of inmates in the colony are gypsies, dudes who stole a cow or a bicycle, and salt addicts. Just darkness. Finding someone to just talk to, besides having a chifir and smoking, is very difficult. Why did we communicate? Azat looked closely for a long time. We were all different: me, the Tatar and Azat. Tatar is an Islamic fundamentalist, fanatic. Azat is an anarchist, leftist. I have extremely different views. Considering that in the colony 70% of rapists and drug addicts are not Russians. I have never hidden my nationalist views. And yet we managed to communicate and discussed what was happening in the country and in the world. If a person is shit and rubs shoulders with the cops, then you avoid him. But there are such incorrigible romantics as Azat. I told him this straight out, as it is, and he was also frank with me. I appreciate it. And I respect him immensely for the actions that he committed during quarantine and on May 9th. He demonstrated unbending will. His intellect, spirit and metal core were worth a hundred Zonov bulls.

We did not hide our communication with Azat, despite his status. He didn't take any risks. On the contrary, we carried it. For example, we started talking about literature: he handed the book to me from hand to hand. And I take it on purpose - I provoke the prison community. I do it deliberately to see if at least one whore can tell me something. But they didn’t dare touch me, I set myself up.

Azat and I could argue for hours about politics and our views, without admitting that each other was right. But not in order to prove something to anyone, but in order to take a break from this routine and feel that life did not end there. And we, of course, will win. We are a tiny opposition of three. The fight against the prison regime united us. And it's not over yet.