No to the repression of anarchists in Izhevsk!
Anarkismo.net Nov. 11, 2009
In Izhevsk, officers of the Centre of Counteraction Against Extremism (CPE, a new Russian political police, formed in January of 2009) are falsifying a case against members of Autonomous Action. According to Galina Shutova, who is yet a witness in the case, the state wants to make her out to be a terrorist: "An officer of the CPE, Artyom Ahmetzyanov, told me directly that he is prepared to do anything to lock me up".
A case against the local activist is currently being filed according to charges under statute 207 of the Russian criminal code ("terrorist hoax"). Currently three persons, Galina Shutova, Anton Sobolev and Kirill Shumikhin are witnesses in the case. Police officers claim that on 4th November at around 12:20 they called to the police department of the Udmurtian Republic, and claimed that a bomb had been placed at the Medical College by participators in an ultra-right demonstration "Russian march", and that Galina had organised the call. Apparently the police want to claim that this way anti-fascists wanted to sabotage a major fascist event in the city. All of the accused have an alibi: according to the version of the investigation, the hoax call was made from a public telephone, which was close to the cafe "Turist" (street of Communards 291), but at the moment of the phone call the three were in the city center, more than two kilometers from the cafe. According to activists, when the bomb hoax allegedly took place, they were arrested by a group of police officers, illegally videotaped and searched by them. Amongst the people who arrested and searched them, they recognized Artyom Akhmetzyanov, who is an officer of the CPE.
On 6th November around 8 am, CPE officers Akhmetzyanov and Konstantin Polcherednikov illegally arrested Kirill Shumikhin, in front of his shocked mother and without providing any documents (of their own or an warrant). Kirill was taken to the 2nd Department of Izhevsk Police, where he was interrogated, verbally abused and threatened over the following 9 hours. A warrant was passed to him post factum, during interrogation.
On the morning of the same day, the parents of Galina Shutova woke up to hear boots kicking their door. The police was about to break into the flat, looking for Galina, who was not at home – she was visiting her friends with Anton. A bit later, according to Galina, she was called by a police officer, who refused to identify himself, just saying that he was an investigator. The anonymous policeman demanded that Galina should come to an interrogation, without pointing out the case and her legal status. When Galina said that she would not come without a warrant, the anonymous caller promised to send a warrant immediately. As Galina and Anton were at a friends', she promised the anonymous caller she would meet him on a street. Within 10 minutes Akhmetzyanov showed up, and Galina was given a warrant where the number of the case and Galina's status were not indicated. Only the name of a lieutenant Huzyakhmetov, who was to interrogate Galina, was indicated.
Around 9 am, Galina and Anton were taken to the 2nd Department of Izhevsk Police. They were told that they were being interrogated as witnesses in the case of an alleged bomb hoax against the Medical college of Izhevsk, which took place on the 4th of November.
Both were asked to do a lie detector test. Galina refused the test, and said that she wanted to call human rights activists and find herself a lawyer. For half an hour, CPE officials did not gave her a chance to call – her mobile phone had already been taken away by police on the way to the police station. According to Galina, she was targeted with psychological pressure and abuse by CPE officer Artyom Akhmetzyanov and others. They yelled at her "What are you afraid of if you did not call!" and "Show us that you aren't lying!". They also accused the girl of "interfering with their work". Unscrupulous CPE officers attempted to force Galina to give testimony that she was "playing for time", she was photographied and her fingerprints were taken without any documentation.
Galina was pressured to refuse a lawyer. As a result, she agreed to take a lie detector test. The questions asked by CPE officers during the test were unclear and incorrect, and also had no direct relation with the case.
When Galina was given back her mobile phone, she called the Human Rights Centre of Prikamsk. After half an hour, three human rights activists arrived at the 2nd police department, but for several hours the police refused to admit them to the building where the interrogation was going on.
Only after the arrival of lawyer Rustem Valliulin did the situation change a bit, and officers started to behave a bit more correctly towards Galina. Eventually she was questioned for 8 hours.
Another person arrested on the same morning – Anton Sobolev – was taken to the department the same morning, and taken to another room. He was illegally put into a cell, where there were already several criminals. According to Anton, these arrestees started to accuse him of being gay and threatened him with violence, then one of them "as a friend" gave him "advice" to "confess everything", otherwise "he would have a really hard time in prison". Moral pressure using other prisoners is a traditional means used by police to intimidate witnesses to obtain the necessary testimony. Then Anton was taken to do a lie detector test and during his interrogation he was proposed "friendship and cooperation" by CPE officers. Then they showed touching compassion by suggesting that Anton change his girlfriend, as Galina was "leading him into bad ways".
Anton was shown a videotape, where the alleged bomb hoax was claimed to have taken place. Anton said that there was a tall guy and a girl in the video, the guy was much taller than Anton and the girl was waering a short coat, whereas that day Galina was dressed in an overcoat. Anton says that this videotape is direct evidence that none of the arrested had any relation with the mythical phone call. Altogether Anton spent 9 hours in the police station.
On 7th November, Galina was questioned at the 2nd Department from 11.30 am to 1 pm in the presence of a lawyer, Rustem Valliulin. During the interrogation, she was given the results of the lie detector test, according to which she was "the organiser of the bomb hoax". According to Valliulin, that was a provocation on the part of investigators: "The lie detector test is no evidence nor testimony against my client, as the questions were so formulated that they misled Galina from the beginning, they had no connection with the case, and I believe that such evidence will not be considered by the court."
Galina was shocked by the events: "You never expect it to happen to you, that the police come after you to fabricate a case. I am totally shocked by the insolence and rudeness of CPE officers Artyom Akhmetzyanov, Konstantin Polcherednikov and others."
According to anti-fascists and participators in Autonomous Action, this criminal case is just another episode in a campaign of repression against the anti-fascists and anarchists of Izhevsk. Since the beginning of the year 2008, acts of repression have taken place continually: more than a hundred people have been illegally arrested for various reasons, six fabricated criminal cases have been opened, four of them were eventually closed due to fact that the crimes had not taken place.
During the investigation of these cases CPE officers have continually used illegal means. Witnesses and suspects have been physically and morally abused. There have been a number of cases of police officers intimidating activists. In the vast majority of these cases, the accusers have been Nazis in some legal trouble, practically all of them have serious criminal cases against them (attempted murder, hooliganism, grievous bodily harm, vandalism and others) – thus cooperation with police against anarchist and anti-fascist activists is for them a means to get out of trouble.
We ask everyone to show solidarity and not to allow the State's repressive apparatus to spread fear, falsify criminal cases and torture and beat up our comrades in their prisons. Publish information about the situation in Izhevsk, call, write, send the attached appeal to the Administration of the President of the Udmurtian Republic and the government of Udmurtia, and to the Police department of Udmurtia with a demand to stop the persecution of anarchists!
We – antifascists and participators in "Autonomous Action" demand the closure of the CPE in Udmurtia, as CPE officers are openly fabricating criminal cases; we demand expulsion from the police departments of Udmurtia those officers who have participated in the torture and beating of activists from Autonomous Action, that is to say Artyom Akhmetzyanov, Konstantin Polcherednikov and others / - their photos are available here: http://avtonom.org/index.php?nid=2825.
Autonomous Action of Izhevsk
Anti-fascists of Izhevsk
Please sign and send the petition below by fax, regular mail or e-mail, demanding to halt repression against members of Autonomous Action. For additional information, contact the Human Rights center of Prikamsk:
+7 3412 71-4457, (+7 950) 833-6276, E-mail: prikam-center@yandex.ru
Administration of the president and government of the Udmurtian Republic
Pushkinskaya street 214, 426007 Izhevsk Russia
Phone/Fax: (+7-3412) 497-200
E-mail: gov@udmnet.ru
Assistant of the president of the republic of Udmurtia
Nelli Nikolaevna Mamaeva
(+7-3412) 497-054
e-mail: s_president@gov.udmnet.ru
Minister for internal affairs of the Udmurtian republic
Valeri Vladimirovich Sosnovskiy
ul. Sovetskaya 17, 426000 Izhevsk Russia
(+7-3412) 934-190
Department of information and public relations at the police ministry of internal affairs of the Udmurtian republic
ul. Sovetskaya 17, 426000 Izhevsk Russia
Chief of depatment Elvira Rinatovna
Phone: (+7-3412) 932-186,
Fax: (+7-3412) 934-243
press@mvd.udm.ru
Prosecutor's office of the Udmurtian republic
Prosecutor Sergey Valentinovich Panov
ul. Sivkova 194
426011 Izhevsk Russia
phone: (+7-3412) 94-85-00, Fax: (+7-3412) 78-25-76
e-mail: Prosecutor@udm.net
SKP – Administration of Investigations of Committee of Investigations under prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation in the Udmurtian Republic
Chief of department Vladimir Anatolyevich Nikeshkin
ul. Sivkova 194, 426011 Izhevsk Russia
Phone (+7-3412)78-08-04 факс (+7-3412)78–56-33
e-mail: upravlenie@susk18.ru
Centre of counteraction Against Extremism
Chief Aleksey Olegovich Kozlov
Secretary : (+7-3412)948-764
Department of investigation of October region of Izhevsk
ul. Karl Marksa 393, 426000 Izhevsk
Chief Andrey Victorovich Chirkov
+7 3412 43–69–00
Appeal
At the beginning of November 2009, officers from the Centre of Counteraction Against Extremism fabricated a criminal case against participators in the anti-fascist movement in Izhevsk. A case against local activists is currently filed according to charges under statute 207 of the Russian criminal code ("terrorist hoax"). Currently three persons, Galina Shutova, Anton Sobolev and Kirill Shumikhin are witnesses of the case. Police officers claim that on the 4th of November around 12.20 pm they called the police department of the Udmurtian Republic, claiming that a bomb had been placed at the Medical College by participators in the Russian march, and that Galina organised the call. All of the accused have an alibi: according to the version of the investigation, the hoax was made from a public telephone, which was close to the cafe "Turist" (street of Communards 291), but at the moment of the phone call, all three were in the city center, more than two kilometers from the cafe. According to activists, when the bomb hoax allegedly took place, they were arrested by a group of police officers, illegally videotaped and searched by them. Amongst the people, who arrested and searched them, they recognized Artyom Akhmetzyanov, who is an officer of the CPE.
According to anti-fascists and participators in Autonomous Action, this criminal case is just another episode in the campaign of repression against anti-fascists and anarchists in Izhevsk. Since the beginning of the year 2008, acts of repression have taken place continually: more than a hundred people have been illegally arrested for various reasons, six fabricated criminal cases have been opened, four of them were eventually closed due to fact that the crimes had not taken place.
During the investigation of these cases CPE officers have continually used illegal means. Witnesses and suspects have been physically and morally abused. There have been a number of cases of police officers intimidating activists. In the vast majority of these cases, the accusers have been Nazis in some legal trouble, practically all of them have serious criminal cases against them (attempted murder, hooliganism, grievous bodily harm, vandalism and others) – thus cooperation with police against anarchist and anti-fascist activists is for them a means to get out of trouble.
We demand:
- Stop the persecution of members of Autonomous Action and anti-fascist activists in Izhevsk.
- Close the Centre of Counteraction Against Extremism in Udmurtia, which is fulfilling the function of political police, and officers of which are fabricating cases.
- Expel from the police departments of Udmurtia Artyom Akmetzyanov, Konstantin Polcherednikov and others, connected with the torture and beating of anti-fascists and activists from Autonomous Action.
Russian original: http://avtonom.org/index.php?nid=2818
English translation by Autonomous Action (source: http://avtonom.org/index.php?nid=2825), revised by Anarkismo.net
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