INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-RUSSIA:
SOLIDARITY DAY IN SUPPORT OF RUSSIAN VICTIM OF FRAME-UP:
The following appeal for an international day of solidarity with Vsevolod Ostapov comes from the English language section of the Russian anarchist news service Avtonom. they hope that actions will take place tomorrow, July 18th. The following has been slightly edited for English grammar.
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Call for Global Action Day on the 18th of July in support of Vsevolod Ostapov:
No love is lost between the Russian population and the cops: the facts of police terror are brought to light with disturbing frequency.
On April the 4, 2008, Moscow cops beat up and arrested seven young men near Sololniki metro station in Moscow. The reason for this was an attempt made by these kids to prevent the illegal arrest of their 19-year old friend Seva Ostapov. Once in the police station (OVD Sokolniki), the "law enforcers" decided to show the "smartasses" the error of their ways: for several hours cops viciously beat and torturing our friends with tasers (electroshockers). The cops made lots of chauvinistic and racist remarks (it's common knowledge that many Russian cops are very supportive of Nazi ideas).
Moscow anarchists reacted with a campaign that succeeded in attracting public and media attention so that the milita's top boss had to make public comments on the issue. The cops decided to go on the offensive, i.e. they charged 6 of the young people with a minor offence (supposedly for a participation in public brawl - a brilliant move to cover up the cop-inflicted wounds on their bodies), while the seventh one, Seva Ostapov, got a felony charge of assault on a cop. Seva faces a long prison sentence (charged with an article 318.1 of Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, 5 years maximum), although the CCTV records and numerous witnesses point out that the charge is completely false.
Each and every part of the state machine of repression are acting together. The detainees (who had various injuries because of police brutality) were refused medical examination when they asked for medical examinations in Moscow hospitals (the Russian healthcare system is subservient to the state), the prosecutor office ignores witness reports given by Seva's friends, while fake "chance witnesses of assault on police officers" started to appear out of nowhere and by some quirk of fate they turn out to be cops as well. As the events unfold, the case brought up against the militia department for illegal detainment and torture of Seva and his friends, is stalled in spite of large amounts of evidence. The prosecutor "loses" different documents regarding the case, sometimes he just "forgets" to make another move in the investigation. This is typical for Russia as well.
It is obvious, that the state takes this issue very seriously: either Seva goes to prison and the torturers in militia uniform are thus absolved of any charges, or the state admits numerous torturers and fascists are amongst the number of its "sworn to serve and protect" militia officers.
We ask you to support the Global Action Day in support of Seva Ostapov on July the 18th and carry out solidarity actions near the Russian embassy in your country (or any other Russian state office instead in case your town is lucky to have no Russian embassies nearby)!
More on this in English:
Contact: antisokolniki@gmail.com
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