Arseniy Turbin, a 15-year-old resident of the town of Livny, Orel region, was sent to an educational colony for five years, allegedly for his participation in the Legion “Freedom of Russia” organisation*.
The schoolboy Arseniy Turbin was under house arrest from 5 September 2023 to 31 May 2024 with the right to attend the lyceum, then he was released on his own recognizance, but soon – on 20 June 2024 – was taken into custody. Turbin is charged with the episode of 2023 with distribution of leaflets with “anti-Putin content” allegedly on the instructions of curators from the “Legion…”, but the schoolboy, admitting the fact of distribution, said in court that he acted out of personal convictions.
The FSB claims that Turbin filled out a certain “questionnaire in Telegram” to join a terrorist organisation and sent it “by a method unspecified by the investigation”, which Turbin also denies.
Human rights activists from the group “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial**”, having familiarised themselves with Turbin’s case, recognised him as a political prisoner. Here is how they motivate their decision.
“Investigator Irina Simonova made conclusions as if Turbin had allegedly reported “a willingness to participate in the activities of the UVO Legion “Freedom of Russia” on the territory of the Russian Federation, with the aim of undermining the foundations of the constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation””
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“expressed readiness to commit acts of terrorist orientation in the interests of the UVO Legion “Freedom of Russia”….
Such accusation seems to us far-fetched and unfounded, Turbin obviously did not report anything about actions of “terrorist orientation”, about his attempt on territorial integrity or constitutional order
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All of this is actually made up by the investigator”.
The schoolboy’s correspondence with the curator, whose mail address contains the name “Legion.zapad”, showed that he was ready to “post flyers and fight Putin’s propaganda” – but these actions “cannot be criminalised in a democratic society, except in cases when propaganda materials contain calls to violence and preach hatred. However, this is not put in Arseniy Turbin’s guilt,” the human rights activists remind.
There is no indication in the case materials of the intentions to “arrive on the territory of Ukraine” and “commit sabotage at military and railway facilities,” which the investigators attribute to Turbin, the human rights activists of the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial.”
An expert examination of the leaflet, which was commissioned by the investigation, revealed nothing but “a negative assessment of Putin’s personality and activities,” but this does not constitute a crime. The text on the leaflets read: “Do you need such a president?”, they did not contain calls for violent actions, and criticism of a political figure “is acceptable”, according to human rights activists who familiarised themselves with the leaflets from the case file and found them freely available on the Internet.
The case file contains video footage of Turbin himself distributing leaflets in the entrances near his place of residence. This, according to human rights defenders, indicates that he did not intend to act covertly.
The investigation attributes “radical-extremist political views” to Turbin, but human rights activists note that Turbin describes them differently on his VK page: “Liberal and democrat in political views, I support Real Madrid.
The case against the minor Turbin is politically motivated and “aimed at intimidating society as a whole”, human rights activists of the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial”.
* The organisation was recognised as a terrorist organisation in the Russian Federation and its activities were banned.
** The Ministry of Justice included the organisation in the register of foreign agents, the Supreme Court liquidated the organisation, its activities in Russia were terminated.
Source: novayagazeta.ru
https://humanrights-online.org/15-year- ... ing-putin/