ABC Irkutsk: support the revolutionary prisoners of Siberia!

Although the winter cold in Ukraine is already coming to an end and the worst blackouts are behind us, our team still needs funds to work on this international column and offline volunteer activities. Welcome to join the fundraising if you haven't already at this link. Many thanks everyone in advance!

Eastern Siberia is a harsh and inhospitable region, which was a place of imprisonment and exile for socialists and anarchists under the tsarist regime. As you can see, history repeats itself.

Here is how the collective sums up the year of its work. It actually coincided with the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine:

It's been almost a year since we have resumed our activity. As we expected, this year brought dozens of people to the lists of political prisoners. There is not enough support for everyone, and so we are expanding the list of cases we will be taking on.
Not all of the people currently imprisoned for acts of resistance are anarchists, but they all fall into the millstone of the state's repressive system. Those who openly express an anti-war position in the form of sabotage on the railroad or the burning of a military recruitment center contribute to the destruction of the regime and should not be left without the attention and support of those who remain on the out. Now we will deal with such cases, too.
Unfortunately, our resources are severely limited, but we will make every possible effort to support those in prison.
You can support us in any way you can - informational, material or otherwise. As for material support, you can send us finances using the cryptocurrency details (please contact us before sending funds)."

ABC Irkutsk currently supports Alexander Snezhkov and Lyubov Lizunova accused in the so-called Chita case. As we wrote earlier, they are charged under three articles of the Russian Criminal Code: 205.2 (public calls to carry out terrorist activities), 214.2 (vandalism) for graffiti "Death to the regime!", and 280.1 (public calls to carry out actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation). The punishers' attention was attracted by a post on the Telegram channel summing up the results of partisan activities from the beginning of the war to mobilization in Russia, where arson of enlistment offices, railway sabotage and actions of the Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists (BOAK) were positively mentioned. The activists assume that they were followed for a long time. After being released on bail, they were captured again in mid-January, allegedly under the pretext of violating it: a girl was detained in Irkutsk, a guy in Omsk. Now Lyubov is under house arrest, Alexander is in the 1st pre-trial detention center of Chita. The entire pre-trial period of legal aid to Alexander has now been paid from donations.

ABC Irkutsk also supports Daniil Ivanov and Ilya Vinogradov accused of robbery (Art. 162 part 3 of the Russian Criminal Code) in the so-called Krasnoyarsk case. Tomorrow, March 9, the next hearing in the case. During previous court session the alleged victim was invited to speak, but he did not manage to provide full and detailed testimony. Also witnesses of both the defense and the prosecution were invited to testify.

Daniil and Ilya came home to their former comrade, who was repeatedly seen in the company of the Nazis, where he gave them subcultural anti-fascist things. Contrary to the information replicated by many resources, the case was opened not on the basis of a denunciation of a robbery, but as a result of listening to and reading correspondence on the Vkontakte social network (according to a message from the lawyer of Daniil). Relatives of the detainees suggest that the guys' accounts have been monitored for a long time. It is also known that the person whom the public accused of denunciation has no claims against the guys, and all the testimonies indicate that there was no robbery. So far, there are no grounds for opening cases on "discrediting" the RF Armed Forces, terrorism and any other articles, except for robbery, therefore no charges have been brought, however, taking into account all the other measures taken, we can talk about the politicization of this case.

At the moment, both Ilya and Daniil pleaded guilty to robbery on the recommendations of lawyers. Ilya agreed to cooperate with the state defender, Daniil is represented by a non-state lawyer. According to Daniil's mother, no physical violence was applied to him, but psychological violence is present on an ongoing basis.

Now Ilya and Daniil are facing 7 to 12 years in prison, but there is reason to think that this is only the first step and after the final decision of the court on robbery, a second round will be given, where more things that are serious for the state, like preparing to set fire to the enlistment office (military commissariat).

For donations in cryptocurrency:

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Telegram: https://t.me/abcirk/
Website: https://abc38.noblogs.org/
Contact: [email protected]
(Find their PGP public key at the blog)

In addition, you may be interested in our own material about the long and glorious life of the founder of the socialist women's school and one of the first revolutionary workers' syndicates in the Russian Empire, who served her sentence a quarter of a century in these territories.

At the same time, we remind you of the autumn case of reservist Ruslan Zinin from the Irkutsk region, who shot a local military commissar in protest against mobilization and revenge for the death of his friend in the war.