Translated material
"I'll hold on." New case against student-political prisoner Arseniy Turbin
At the end of February 2026, a new criminal case was opened against 17-year-old Arseny Turbin, who had been in prison for almost two years. He is accused of allegedly taking part in a riot in Perm correctional colony No. 2, where until recently he was serving his sentence. Human rights activists familiar with the case are confident that both the “rebellion” itself and the accusation are a falsification, the purpose of which is not to release Turbin to freedom.
"Mother fears for his life"
Arseniy Turbin from the Oryol city of Livny is serving his sentence for allegedly trying to join the “Freedom of Russia” legion (in March 2023, the Russian Armed Forces recognized it as a terrorist organization). The student was also charged with distributing leaflets “Do you need such a president?”, taking photos with a white-blue-white flag, and creating the “Free Russia” telegram channel.
The first time he was detained was on the way to school, two and a half weeks after he turned 15 years old. It was the morning of September 5, 2023. In June 2024, Arseny was sentenced to 5 years in prison “for participation in a terrorist organization.” On March 5, 2026, Turbin’s case was considered in the Court of Cassation. The verdict was left unchanged.
“Arseniy spoke very succinctly, because he was unexpectedly placed in a punishment cell, and before that, all the case materials and the text of the speech that he was preparing for the court were confiscated, since it was “not allowed” in a punishment cell,” says Elena , a friend of the Turbin family, familiar with the case (the names of all interlocutors have been changed for their safety). – Arseniy supported the defense’s arguments and reiterated that he did not commit the crime of which he was accused. To no avail. His mother is afraid for his life.
His family and lawyer learned that Arseny had been placed in a punishment cell on the eve of the trial, on March 3.
“I’m just already afraid for the life of my child. It seems to me that the situation is developing so cruelly that I’m afraid for his life. Today I called the investigator and asked if my child is alive? Today he’s being placed in a punishment cell, and how do I know what could happen to him?” one of the family’s friends, Vladimir , quotes correspondence with Arseny’s mother Irina Turbina. suicide, and say that it was he himself? What way out does this whole system see in resolving the mistake they made when sentencing him on June 20, 2024, to destroy the life of a child, to deprive the mother of her son, this is the goal they are pursuing? And all this happens two days before the appeal on the verdict. Initially, the lawyers and I petitioned to postpone the consideration of the case, due to Arseny’s being in a punishment cell, and therefore he did not have the opportunity to fully prepare, and the absence of a third lawyer. case due to the inability to fly from the UAE. The court did not consider these circumstances to be a reason to postpone the hearing."
On the morning of March 3, Arseny’s family and friends arrived at Pre-trial Detention Center No. 5 in the Perm Territory, where the student had been transferred from a local educational colony in the village of Gamovo after the initiation of a new criminal case. They were not allowed to give him food. At first, the detention center employee refused, saying that appointments were by appointment only. When Turbin’s relatives called the special unit, they were told that this was not so.
“When they tried to give him food for the second time, the detention center employee finally admitted that Arseny was in the punishment cell. His mother called the teacher - he was surprised and said that Arseny was not in the punishment cell. To this, the pre-trial detention center employee replied: “The teacher doesn’t know yet. He will be sent away today anyway.” In the end, the products were not accepted. Then the information about the punishment cell was confirmed - he was deliberately put there on the eve of the trial, the pressure before the cassation was a plus for the new case. Do you understand that he has been growing under such pressure since he was 14 years old? All physical maturation is disrupted, he is losing weight, he has lost 17 kilos, he is not growing! They didn’t give him life in the colony either - they constantly locked him in an isolation ward, set other kids against him, and didn’t allow him to complete his studies normally - he went from being an excellent student to a C student. And before that, in the Moscow pre-trial detention center, it was no easier either - a cellmate beat him for several days, until his mother made a fuss, says Igor , an activist from a support group. – And now from solitary confinement to a punishment cell. The reason was that he allegedly did not clean his cell three times a day; a burnt match was found under his bed. According to Arseny, he knew nothing about cleaning three times a day. And he never had any matches.
"False Protocol"
Arseny was born in Dubai. His mother’s name is Irina, she is Russian, his father is a citizen of the UAE, whose family was ready to accept only a Muslim as a daughter-in-law. As a result, Irina took the child and left for Russia to live with her parents, in the city of Livny, Oryol region. At the local lyceum where Arseny studied, he regularly had problems in relationships with classmates and some teachers - both because of his appearance (long hair, bow tie, oriental appearance), and because of his straightforward statements on any topic.
After the start of the war, he became seriously interested in politics and spoke about his desire to enter MGIMO and become a political scientist. He did not hide his opposition views, and on June 12, 2023, he went out on a solo picket in support of Alexei Navalny.
Arseny’s friends believe that the FSB began “developing” the schoolboy when he was still 14. And on August 29, 2023, shortly after he turned 15, operatives came to the Turbins’ apartment. Having confiscated the phones and laptop, they ordered Arseny to appear at the FSB the next day and interviewed him there in the presence of his mother.
According to the interview protocol, the student then admitted: “I planned to join the specified legion and sent them a completed questionnaire. Help for the legion is carried out by posting leaflets and committing sabotage at military and railway facilities.”
The fact that Arseny sent the completed questionnaire to the recruiters is also stated in the indictment.
“In the period from 14:12 on 06/06/2023 to 01:05 on 06/08/2023, Turbin A., being at his place of residence in an apartment, using his ACER brand laptop as an electronic device, answered the questions posed in the questionnaire, sending it in a manner unknown during the preliminary investigation to representatives of the Russian Freedom Legion,” the document says.
Turbin himself and his mother, who was present at the survey, deny this admission. According to them, after numerous edits, an FSB officer secretly entered it into the protocol. This is confirmed by the audio recording of the survey. Moreover, as stated in the publication of Mediazona, whose journalists were able to listen to the recording, two FSB operatives convinced the student that correspondence with the Legion, recognized as a terrorist organization, was “normal” and “not against the law.” During the conversation with the teenager, taking an informal, understanding tone, they asked him about his political views, about the crossed out portrait of Putin on his avatar, about his thoughts about the war in Ukraine, as well as about the “Freedom of Russia” legion and how one can join it. “We need to write and, like, come to Ukraine,” the schoolboy answers innocently.
“Can you come and join at the age of 14?” - “Probably yes, well, I don’t know...”
“In this conversation, Arseny says that he knows exactly about the activities of Freedom of Russia, that he does not support their “not very good activities” in undermining objects inside Russia, and mentions that in order to join the legion, you “probably” need to submit an application,” says Igor. – He himself did not send such a statement - you can clearly hear: “I didn’t want to.” However, in the protocol of the survey, which was typed by FSB officers, an absolute lie was printed: “Joined the Legion “Freedom of Russia.” As Arsenia’s mother says, the FSB officer put on a performance for them - first he entered Arsenia’s last name with an error, when they noted this, he made something about a non-working printer and sent it to the next office for printing. There, another officer had already taken the document, probably he typed in a false confession at the end. When The turbines checked the protocol for the second time, they, of course, only looked at the name so that it was printed correctly. It was not for nothing that Irina (Arseny’s mother) later lamented that if she had known about the scoundrels who worked there, she would never have come without a lawyer - after all, they had nothing on Arseny - when six men broke into their apartment on August 29, they didn’t find anything printed. leaflets, or any “black clothes” that they persistently asked about. Only the “I❤️Alexey” badge. They clarified that they were talking about Navalny - Arseny nodded.
According to Novaya Gazeta Europe, after reading the transcript of the survey in February 2024, investigator Trunov wanted to drop the case against Turbin, but the investigation was assigned to another investigator, Irina Simonova. As a result, the case went to court, the sentence was five years.
"Now this is fiction"
Turbin spent several months in Moscow pre-trial detention center No. 5 "Vodnik", where he was placed in a punishment cell at least twice and was repeatedly beaten by his cellmate , Novaya Gazeta writes.
Excerpt from Arseny's letter:
“Mom, hello! I’m fine. When will we have a meeting with you? I really want to see you! I propose to hold a meeting on October 4. Tomorrow (October 2, 2024) I’ll try to call you. <…> The situation is difficult. (…). This evening after 18:00 they beat me on the head with their fists on the bed twice. I was registered as prone to terrorism because of the article. The situation is very difficult, critical. Azizbek beat me and said that ночью мне пипец (только матом). Ночь будет очень тяжелой. Но я буду держаться. У меня уже был такой опыт. 15 июля тоже сложная ночь была, но я выдержал, а утром нас расселили. Меня, Никиту и Гошу поселили в четырехместную камеру. Там мы были втроем. Это была самая лучшая камера для меня и самое лучшее время в СИЗО. Я очень тебя люблю! Прости меня, пожалуйста, за все. Я в долгу перед тобой. Мне очень стыдно и было стыдно for all the inconvenience and for all the pain that I caused you. But many also circumstances, unfortunately, were largely beyond my control.”
In December 2024, Arseny was transferred to a Perm educational colony.
On February 25, 2026, a new criminal case was opened against Turbin for mass riots. A “wide circle of people” allegedly gave evidence against him. Now Turbin is considered a suspect in this case.
“They staged a riot in the colony so that there would be a formal reason to close it for a longer period.” Yes, human rights activists are sure of this, as far as they were able to understand the essence of the accusation. People who never even met him in this colony testify against him. It is clear that the security forces have every opportunity to force convicts to say anything,” says family friend Elena. - Why the riot? It didn't work out with the notebook. At the end of last year, a strange notebook with notes about AUE was thrown into Arseny’s bedside table (The prisoner way of life is the same, the motto and name of an informal criminal subculture, which the Russian authorities declared an “extremist organization.” FSB officers spoke about AUE with Arseny during a survey in 2023) . But the defense successfully stopped this attempt. It was not possible to pin this case on him, because if they have a normal lawyer, they will not carry out this charge without an examination. And the most thorough examination will show that the handwriting is simply not his. As a result, they had to invent a whole riot in order to charge him with Part 2 of Art. 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in mass riots). This article carries a prison term of up to 8 years.
Arseny's friends and relatives had long been afraid of a new trumped-up charge.
– Since last spring, we have been afraid of this, because then they began to put especially active pressure on Arseny and talk about how he should admit guilt. He still hasn't admitted to something he didn't do. This makes them terribly angry - that’s why the term is crazy for a schoolchild. And now they won't let him leave. At first, they artificially delayed the transfer of the terrorism case to cassation. Now this is a fiction,” says Elena.
According to activists from Arseny’s support group, at least two major security officials from the Perm Territory are behind the new case against the student.
– Firstly, it could not have happened without Andrei Lyapkin, this is the head of the FSB for the Perm Territory, major general. It is his department that accompanies everyone “politically” in the region. Without their “operative development,” this falsification would have been impossible, says Pavel , one of the activists of the political prisoners support group. – The second is Denis Golovkin, the head of the Perm Investigative Committee, with the rank of Colonel of Justice. The new case of “rebellion” in the educational colony is being created by his subordinates. The head of the Perm pre-trial detention center-5, Alexey Teterin, actively helps them - for example, by the fact that after the transfer from Gamovo, Arseniy was thrown into a punishment cell in order to prevent him from receiving the package and seeing his lawyers. And, of course, the falsification would not have been possible without the leadership of the Perm educational colony - it was they who planted a notebook with AUE symbols on him, and later staged a “revolt.”
According to human rights activists, it is no coincidence that they are trying to impose new sentences on charges of participation in the AUE community on young political prisoners.
– This subculture, which has never been any real community, was recognized by the Supreme Court as an extremist community in 2020. This is convenient for false accusations under Article 282.2 (Part 2, participation in an extremist community) in that since there is no real community and such mandatory features as leaders, joint specific goals and joint activities, it means that anyone can be brought under participation in such a pseudo-organization for any reason, says Siberian human rights activist Alexey Komlev. – Yes, notebooks with the inscription “AUE” will do just fine. And participation in the “activities” of such a “community” automatically faces a prison term of up to 6 years. This is what they did to Nikita Uvarov, for example, a month before his release.
Convict Nikita Uvarov from Kansk was charged with allegedly participating in the “extremist AUE movement” on February 18, 2026. He was supposed to be released on March 19, 2026. Uvarov ended up in prison in the case of anarchist schoolchildren from Kansk at the age of 14, in June 2020. After 11 months, he was briefly released, but in February 2022, the tribunal found Uvarov guilty of teaching terrorism - the schoolboy was sentenced to 5 years in prison. The charge of participation in the activities of an extremist organization brought in 2026 carries a prison term of up to 6 years.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation stated that in February and July 2025, a resident of Kansk positioned himself “as a participant in a banned extremist international social movement, communicated to prisoners the rules of life and behavior aimed at introducing and everyday use in a correctional institution the communication style and “laws” of the criminal world.” The second case was opened on the basis of materials from the Russian FSB Directorate for the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Meanwhile, on March 19, Nikita’s sentence in his first criminal case expires. The other day it became known that on February 24, the Sovetsky District Court of Krasnoyarsk, at the request of the colony, assigned him three years of administrative supervision - this is the maximum possible period for such a measure. The reason for the appointment of supervision was “numerous violations of the established procedure for serving the sentence.” Administrative supervision implies a number of restrictions - for example, a ban on leaving home at specified hours, visiting certain places, traveling outside the territory established by the court.
Trans-Baikal schoolgirl and political prisoner Lyubov Lizunova also faces a second prison term, like Arseny Turbin and Nikita Uvarov. In April 2024, the 1st Eastern District Military Court sentenced her to 3.5 years in prison under articles on “calls for extremism” (Article 280 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and “justification of terrorism” (Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Her friend Alexander Snezhkov was sentenced to 6 years in prison for the same articles, as well as “vandalism” (Article 214 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In the Chita pre-trial detention center, Lyuba finished 10th and then 11th grade. At the end of January 2026, when Lizunova’s sentence had passed the halfway point, the Trans-Baikal Regional Court suddenly recognized the Trans-Baikal Left Association (ZLO) movement as a terrorist organization. The investigation calls Lyubov and Alexander “informal leaders” of this non-existent movement. Now, under the article on organizing a terrorist community, they face life imprisonment.
"I'll hold on." New case against student-political prisoner Arseniy Turbin