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Tag: Network Case
Political Prisoner Dmitry Pchelintsev: "Please Tell Mom That I'm Well"
"Please Tell Mom That I'm Well": An Antifascist in the Vyatka Prison Castle
Ekaterina Loushnikova
Idel.Realii (Radio Svoboda)
Dmitry Pchelintsev. Archive photo courtesy of RFE/RL
In December 2020, Dmitry Pchelintsev was transferred to the Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Kirov aka the Vyatka Prison Castle, where he met with members of the Kirov Public Monitoring Commission.
Pchelintsev was detained in October 2017 in Penza by the FSB. Before his arrest, he worked as a shooting instructor for the Union of Paratroopers of Russia, a veterans organization, and played airsoft (a team sport involving the use of pneumatic weapons). Among young people in Penza, Dmitry was known as an antifascist, campaigning against neo-Nazism, chauvinism and social inequality.
According to FSB investigators, Pchelintsev and his comrades from Penza, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Belarus organized a "network" of "combat groups," planning an armed seizure of power via attacks on military enlistment offices, police stations, armories, and United Russia party offices. Pchelintsev was charged with organizing a "terrorist community" and illegal possession of weapons. During interrogations at the Penza Pre-Trial Detention Center, the antifascist confessed that he was the "leader of a terrorist organization." Later, Pchelintsev told lawyer Oleg Zaitsev that his "confessions" had been obtained under torture.
"They pulled off my underpants. I was lying down on my stomach, and they tried to attach the wires to my genitals. I shouted and asked them to stop tormenting me. They started saying, 'You're the leader.' So that they would stop the torture, I would say, 'Yes, I'm the leader.' 'You were going to commit terrorist acts.' I would answer, 'Yes, we were going to organize terrorist attacks.'"
Despite complaints from Pchelintsev and other defendants in the so-called Network Case about being tortured during the investigation, no criminal case on the matter was opened.
On February 10, 2020, the Volga District Military Court found Pchelintsev guilty of "creating a terrorist community" and sentenced him to eighteen years in prison in a high-security penal colony. The Memorial Human Rights Center said that the testimony in the Network Case had been obtained under torture, and recognized Pchelintsev and his comrades as political prisoners. The lawyers of the defendants in the Network Case have filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg.
The meeting at Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Kirov was held via video link: during the coronavirus pandemic , all visits, including with members of the PMC, have been prohibited at the prison. During the conversation with Pchelintsev, two employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service were present: Pchelintsev did not insist on "privacy." He unexpectedly praised the Vyatka Prison Castle for obeying the law.
"The conditions of detention are excellent!" said the political prisoner. "Especially in comparison with the Penza Pre-Trial Detention Center. There is no pressure on me: they do not beat me, they do not intimidate me, they treat me politely.
"And how are they feeding you?" the human rights activists asked.
"The food is good, too, the food is delicious. But the problem is that I'm a vegetarian, and in keeping with my beliefs I don't eat meat dishes. So, I'm looking forward to having money transferred to my account from Penza to Kirov so that I can buy my own food in the prison store. Also, I still have things and medicines in Penza. I was taking drugs to treat my joints, but none of this has been sent yet."
"How is your health?"
"I'm an asthmatic. I got the condition during my imprisonment in the Penza Pre-Trial Detention Center, and now I constantly need a Seretide inhaler. I have a prescription from a doctor. By law, I should get Seretide at public expense. But when I submitted a request for an inhaler to he Kirov Pre-Trial Detention Center, I was told that all funds were going to fight covid, that there was no money for other drugs."
"Are you being held in solitary confinement?"
"No, there are four people in my cell. I have good relations with everyone, there are no conflicts. Recently, I was transferred to the 'quarantine' wing, where I will stay for twenty-one days, after which I will be sent to the penal colony. However, I have already been told that when I arrive at the camp, I will most likely be placed in the 'strict conditions' wing since I have a terrorism conviction, and from the viewpoint of my jailers, I am an 'extremist.' No, I have not been charged with any rules violations in the Kirov Pre-Trial Detention Center. But I suspect that the ground is being prepared for putting the squeeze on me. For some reason, many people believe that I was convicted not only for terrorism, but also for murder. I think this bias toward me is based on hearsay."
"You mean the article in Meduza about the murder of two young people, your comrades?"
"Yes, in the Kirov detention center, as it turned out, everyone had read this article or heard something. I really don't want to be seen as a murderer when I arrive at the camp. I had no dealings with those guys (Ekaterina Levchenko and Artyom Dorofeyev), and I don't know anything about their murder. I have deep sympathy for their relatives, but I'm not to blame for this tragedy. I think that it's another provocation on the part of the FSB, which, nevertheless, many people believe is true."
"Are you a believer? Do you have any religious problems?"
"Yes, I believe in God. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the Kirov detention center, I wasn't allowed to read the Torah in the cell. Before that, I tried to devote the entire Sabbath to studying Holy Scriptures. But in the Kirov detention center, I have not had the opportunity, because I was told that prisoners, according to internal regulations, have the right to read only books from the prison library in their cells, books that have been vetted.
"In keeping with my complaint, they can commission a religious expert examination of the text, but I was told by the staff at the Federal Penitentiary Service that this would take a long time. I was advised to resolve the issue with the Torah when I got to the penal colony. But this is not some homemade book, it is a book from a synagogue!"
"Have you written complaints?"
"It is my impression that, in Russian prisons, complaints and even letters to and from relatives very often do not reach the addressee."
"For example, when I was in the Penza Pre-Trial Detention Center, my complaints didn't go anywhere, they were simply not sent. And even a letter from my grandmother, who congratulated me on my birthday, was destroyed by the staff at the detention center, because, according to my jailers, the letter contained a coded passage . . . The last letter I sent, from the Kirov detention center, I sent to my wife, who is both my public defender and representative at the ECtHR. I hope this letter is received. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus, my wife cannot visit me, despite her status as my defender. In the Kirov detention center, there is basically no way to call relatives by phone, there is no FSIN-Pismo system for online correspondence, and when relatives and human rights defenders make inquiries by phone, prison officials usually tell them that they don't have the right to disclose the 'personal data' of prisoners. Consequently, you are completely cut off from the world: no one knows where you are or what is happening to you. Please tell Mom that I'm well, and I will call her as soon as I am sent to the penal colony!"
Political prisoner Dmitry Pchelintsev will be transferred to a high-security colony in Kirov Region immediately after completing a twenty-one-day quarantine. In Kirov Region, there are five high-security penal colonies, and two of them are earmarked for first-time serious offenders. One of them is Correctional Colony No. 11 in Kirovo-Chepetsk, and the other is Correctional Colony No. 27 in the Verkhnekamsk District. This colony already has one political prisoner, Sergei Ozerov, who was convicted on charges of terrorism and sentenced to eight years in prison for involvement in Vyacheslav Maltsev's "revolution" of 5 November 2017. The penal colony is located on the site of the former Stalinist prison camp Vyatlag.
Translated by the Russian Reader. Please read my previous posts on the Network Case (see the list, below), and go to Rupression.com to find out how you can show your solidarity with the defendants in the case.
#NetworkCase
"'Please Tell Mom That I'm Well': An Antifascist in the Vyatka Prison Castle," 8 January 2021
"David Frenkel: The Year 2020 in Pictures," 1 January 2021
"Three Years of Revenge (A Chronicle of the Network Case)," 20 October 2020
"The Network Case Is Russia's Disgrace," 18 October 2020
"18 Years in Prison for "Et Cetera" (Penza Network Case Appeals Hearing)," 3 September 2020
"Jenya Kulakova: A Sunny Downpour," 2 August 2020
"Viktor Filinkov: The Big Picture," 4 July 2020
"We Can Dance If We Want To," 22 June 2020
"Come As You Are," 21 June 2020
"The Network Trial in Petersburg: Closing Statements by Defendants," 18 June 2020
"Parents Demand Release of Network Defendants Due to Coronavirus," 1 April 2020
"Pornofilmy, 'This Will Pass,'" 1 March 2020
"At the Network Trial in Petersburg," 25 February 2020
"Yevgenia Litvinova: Stop the Crackdown in Crimea," 18 February 2020
"The Network Case in Context," 12 February 2020
"86 Years in Prison for 7 Defendants in Network Case," 10 February 2020
"Two Network Case Defendants Married in Prison," 29 January 2020
"Viktor Filinkov: 'It's As If You Disappear—Only the Pain Remains,'" 21 January 2019
"David Graeber on the Network Case," 20 January 2020
"'My Statement Has Been Recorded Accurately (February 1–3, 2020)," 28 December 2019
"18 Years in Prison for Being Tortured by the FSB," 26 December 2019
"The Second Anniversary," 20 October 2019
"'Hi, I'm Married,'" 14 August 2019
"Ivan Davydov: The New Greatness Trial," 12 July 2019
"Guided Tour of a Torture Chamber," 11 July 2019
"They Are Who They Are," 10 June 2019
"Vocalese (The Network Trials)," 6 June 2019
"Yana Teplitskaya: Can Torture Be Endured?" 3 June 2019
"The Network Trials: Pinning the 'Code' on the Defendants," 22 May 2019
"My Generation," 6 May 2019
"Lie Still, Bitch!" 26 April 2019
"Crossing Jordan: Day Three of the Network Trial," 17 April 2019
"Network Trial Begins in Petersburg," 9 April 2019
"FSB May Haved Used Neo-Nazi Provocateur to Frame Network Suspects," 1 February 2019
"Jenya Kulakova: A New Year of Sorts," 18 January 2019
"No Amnesty for 'Terrorists,'" 15 January 2019
"Relentless Repression in Russia: Why Londoners Are Demonstrating on January 19," 14 January 2019
"Solo," 12 January 2019
"Convoyed," 31 October 2018
"How the FSB Tortures Detainees: Stories of the Victims," 28 October 2018
"No Justice, No Peace: Petersburg's Kangaroo Courts Revisited," 21 October 2018
"Shakursky and Pchelintsev Indicted for Organizing 'Terrorist Community,'" 11 September 2018
"Arman Sagynbayev: I Was Tortured by the FSB," 8 September 2018
"Yana Teplitskaya: Wonderland," 6 September 2018
"Network: Parents versus the FSB," 2 August 2018
"Is Maxim Shulgin an 'Extremist'?" 26 July 2018
"Moscow City Court Affirms Anna Pavlikova's Remand in Custody," 26 July 2018
"Is Lydia Bainova an 'Extremist'?" 24 July 2018
"Anna Pavlikova: Enemy of the Putinist State?" 22 July 2018
"A Funny Thing Happened in Pryamukhino," 20 July 2018
"Two More Suspects Detained in Network Case," 6 July 2018
"Petersburg Court Bailiffs Attack Reporter at Network Case Hearing," 20 June 2018
"Anna Tereshkina: At the Court Hearing," 20 June 2018
"Nikolai Boyarshinov: I Hope One Day We Can Say the FSB Has Been Banned," 12 June 2018
"Lemmy Kilmister vs. Vladimir Putin," 19 May 2018
"Brazil," 18 May 2018
"This Is What Antifascism Looks Like," 13 May 2018
"May Day in Petersburg: 'Your Torture Won't Kill Our Ideas,'" 2 May 2018
"Riot Cops Raid Punk Rock in Barnaul: 'Freaks, Not Patriots," 29 April 2018
"Hug Your Son and We'll Open Fire," 27 April 2018
"Denis Lebedev's Suicide Note," 26 April 2018
"'Are You a Bitch Yet?' FSB Makes New Threats to Framed and Tortured Antifascist Viktor Filinkov," 26 April 2018
"Suicide Invoice," 25 April 2018
"Zoya Svetova: Interview with Petersburg Public Monitoring Commission Members Yana Teplitskaya and Yekaterina Kosarevskaya," 23 April 2018
"TV Party Tonight!" 21 April 2018
"Valery Pshenichny: Tortured, Then Murdered," 19 April 2018
"They Are Not Terrorists! The Terrorists at the FSB Torture People," 16 April 2018
"FSB and NTV Pressure Mother of Man Accused in 'Terrorist' Frame-Up," 12 April 2018
"A New Face in Hell: Yuli Boyarshinov," 12 April 2018
"Wife of Tortured Antifascist Seeks Asylum in Finland," 11 April 2018
"The FSB's Tall Tales," 10 April 2018
"Families of Penza-Petersburg Terrorists Form Committee," 9 April 2018
"Extremism Inside Out," 30 March 2018
"Search and Intimidate," 29 March 2018
"Solidarity? (The Case of the Penza and Petersburg Antifascists)," 24 March 2018
"Anna Tereshkina: At Viktor Filinkov's Remand Extension Hearing," 23 March 2018
"Ping, Ping, Ping: The Remand Extension Hearing of the Penza 'Terrorists,'" 20 March 2018
"Tortured Petersburg Antifascist Viktor Filinkov Transferred to Remand Prison in Leningrad Region," 17 March 2018
"Svyatoslav Rechkalov: 'They Proceeded to Pull Down My Trousers, Threatening to Shock Me in the Groin,'" 15 March 2018
"They Jump on Anything That Moves, Part 3: The Case of the New Greatness Movement," 15 March 2018
"The Horrorshow Continues: Svyatoslav Rechkalov Tortured in Moscow," 15 March 2018
"The Rowdies Have to Be Apprehended Legally, So We Can Have a Celebration in the City on March 18, not Bedlam," 15 March 2018
"Ilya Kapustin: 'When the Stamp Thudded in My Passport, It Was Like a Huge Weight Had Been Lifted from My Shoulders,'" 13 March 2018
"Your Husband Safely Made the Flight to Minsk after We Abducted Him in Petersburg," 2 March 2018
"'FSB Officers Always Get Their Way!'" 28 February 2018
'The Case of the Anarchists: Disappearances, Torture, Frame-Up (11 AM, February 15, 2018, Moscow)," 14 February 2018
"The Strange Investigation of a Strange Subway Attack," 12 February 2018
"Arrested Penza Antifascists Talk about Torture in Remand Prison," 10 February 2018
"Solidarity with Persecuted Russian Antifascists and Anarchists in NYC and Minneapolis," 7 February 2018
"Ilya Kapustin: 'They Said They Could Break My Legs and Dump Me in the Woods,'" 31 January 2018
"The Penza 'Terrorism' Case," 30 January 2018
"Breaking Bad with the FSB," 29 January 2018
"How 'Stability' Has Really Been Achieved in Russia," 29 January 2018
By hecksinductionhourin antifascism, regime, regions, solidarity, youth January 8, 2021 January 8, 2021 2,232 WordsLeave a comment
David Frenkel: The Year 2020 in Pictures
David Frenkel
I had a poor year shooting photographs: there were few events in [Petersburg], and I missed some important stories due to my arm being broken. But in the end, it seems that the photos still piled up.
January 19, 2020. Activists of the Vesna Movement say goodbye to the Russia Constitution near the Constitutional Court in Petersburg.
January 31, 2020. Authorities analyze the debris after the Sport and Concert Complex (SKK) in Petersburg collapses.
February 1, 2020. Police detain a man for a picketing against proposed amendments to the Russian Constitution on Senate Square in Petersburg.
February 9, 2020. A solo picket in Penza before the verdict in the Network Case was announced.
February 10, 2020. Defendants in the Network Case after the verdict was announced in the Penza Regional Court.
Continue reading "David Frenkel: The Year 2020 in Pictures" →
By hecksinductionhourin journalism, petrograd, photographs, politics, protest, solidarity, zeitgeist January 1, 2021 January 1, 2021 1,018 WordsLeave a comment
Three Years of Revenge (A Chronicle of the Network Case)
The Three-Year Revenge
The appeals hearing in the Network Case is over. The sentences are the same: from six to eighteen years in prison
Yan Shenkman
The Network Case […] has been going on for exactly three years. Today, we can say that the case has come to an end: an appeals court has upheld the convictions of all the defendants [in the Penza portion of the case, not the Petersburg portion], who face six to eighteen years in prison. In the coming days and weeks, they will be transported to penal colonies to serve their sentences, while their lawyers file complaints with the Russian Court of Cassation and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Novaya Gazeta recalls how one of the most dramatic and unjust cases of the 2010s unfolded.
The Maltsev/Artpodgotovka Case […] had just exploded on the front pages, and the World Cup and the presidential election were on the horizon. The circumstances were perfect for the special services to uncover a "terrorist plot" and impress their superiors. A year and and a half earlier, an ambitious FSB colonel, Sergei Sizov, took charge of the agency's Penza office: it is believed that he launched the Network Case. Now a lieutenant-general, Sizov currently heads the agency's Chelyabinsk regional office. Soon after he was assigned to Chelyabinsk, news broke of the so-called Chelyabinsk Case, which is quite reminiscent of the Network Case.
The arrests in Penza began on October 18, 2017. Yegor Zorin was the first to be taken. He had drugs on him, allegedly, but now that we know how investigators handled the evidence in the case, this circumstance is in doubt. Zorin was pressured into cooperating with the authorities, giving evidence about a certain organization, to which he and his friend Ilya Shakursky belonged, allegedly. Shakursky is a well-known anti-fascist activist, organizer of charitable and environmental campaigns, and musician. The authorities had long had their eyes on him and were so interested that they sicked a provocateur on him. This provocateur, Vladislav Gresko-Dobrovolsky, would later be a secret witness for the prosecution at the trial.
Dmitry Pchelintsev, Andrei Chernov, Vasily Kuksov and, a bit later, Arman Sagynbayev are arrested. The young men are beaten and threatened during their arrests. Although weapons were found, allegedly, on Kuksov, Shakursky, and Pchelintsev, no traces of the accused or their body tissues are detected on the weapons.
Everything is held against them: the books they read (including Tolstoy), a staged airsoft video, shot two years earlier; their correspondence on messengers; and hikes in the forest that involved practicing survival skills and first aid. But what matters most is their own testimony, obtained under torture, something that no one except the prosecutor's office doubts anymore. The conclusion: the accused are a "terrorist community" that was planning to seize power and enact regime change.
Rumors reach Moscow that anarchists and antifascists have been disappearing in Penza. Their arrests are really like abductions: a person disappears, and that is it. Alexei Polikhovich, a correspondent with OVD Info and an anarchist who recently served time in the Bolotnaya Square Case, travels to Penza. He learns about what has happened, including the torture, but the relatives of the detainees ask him not to publish the information. The general sentiment at the time was not to make a fuss: things would only get worse, and most importantly, the torture would resume. Consequently, the information is published only in January, after the arrests in Petersburg of Viktor Filinkov, Igor Shishkin, and Yuli Boyarshinov as part of the same case.
Yana Teplitskaya and Katya Kosarevskaya, members of the Petersburg Public Monitoring Commission, find Filinkov in the Crosses Prison, recording "numerous traces of burns from a stun gun on the entire surface of [his] right thigh, a hematoma on [his] right ankle, [and] burns from a stun gun in [his] chest area." There were more than thirty such signs of injury. Filinkov claims he was tortured. Slightly later, Pchelintsev and Shakursky would claim they were tortured. Doctors confirm that Shishkin suffered a fracture in the lower wall of his eye socket, as well as numerous bruises and abrasions.
Pchelintsev: "When I was tortured with electrical shocks, my mouth was full of 'crushed teeth' due to the fact I gritted my teeth since the pain was strong, and I tore the frenulum of my tongue. My mouth was full of blood, and at some point one of my torturers stuck my sock in my mouth."
The case attracts attention.
A banner bearing the inscription "The FSB is the main terrorist" is hung on the fence of the FSB building in Chelyabinsk "in solidarity with repressed anarchists all over the country." The people who hung the banner are detained and, according to them, tortured. They are charged with disorderly conduct. Six months later, the charges are dropped due to lack of evidence. It is in Chelyabinsk that investigators use the phrase "damage to the FSB's reputation" for the first time. The phrase is the key to the entire process. Subsequently, the security forces would take revenge against those who publicized instances of torture and procedural violations. People who supported the accused would sometimes be punished: they would face criminal charges and threats to their lives. The motive of revenge is clearly legible in all the actions taken by investigators, in the stance adopted by the prosecutors and the judges, and in the verdict itself.
Gradually, information about the Network Case is published in the media, first as brief news items, then as full-fledged articles in independent publications. By the end of April, everyone is writing about the case. The solidarity campaign becomes massive, and the case gains notoriety. At the same time, the NTV propaganda film Dangerous Network is broadcast: in terms of genre, it resembles other such film, including Anatomy of a Protest and 13 Friends of the Junta. It attacks not only the accused, making them look like bin Laden-scale terrorists , but also the human rights defenders and activists who support them and thus, allegedly, betray Russian interests. Dangerous Network was the first of many similar "documentaries" and articles on the case.
The first solidarity rallies and concerts are held in May. The parents of the defendants create the Parents Network, an association aimed at protecting their children, and ask for help from federal human rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova. Consequently, the torture stops, but no one thinks to close the case.
In July, there are new arrests in the case: Penza residents Mikhail Kulkov and Maxim Ivankin are arrested. At the same time, in July, during a session of the UN Committee Against Torture, the Russian delegation is asked about the Network Case. The delegation ignores the question.
An unauthorized "people's meeting" in support of the defendants in the Network and New Greatness cases takes place outside FSB headquarters on Lubyanka Square in Moscow. Similar protests are held in Petersburg, Penza, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Irkutsk. Among those detained after the protest in Moscow is activist Konstantin Kotov. A week later, 77-year-old human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov is fined and sentenced to 25 days of administrative arrest for calling for the meeting. Ponomaryov comments, "This is the FSB's revenge." The gatherings on Lubyanka against torture and crackdowns would continue in 2019.
In Arkhangelsk, 17-year-old anarchist Mikhail Zhlobitsky blows himself up at the local offices of the FSB. Shortly before the blast, a message appears on the Telegram channel Rebel Talk [Rech' buntovshchika]: "Since the FSB fabricates cases and tortures people, I decided to go for it." There is no indication of a specific case, but the phrase "fabricates cases and tortures" suggests the Network Case.
At a meeting of the Human Rights Council, journalist Nikolai Svanidze and council chair Mikhail Fedotov tell Putin about the provocations in the New Greatness Case and the torture in the Network Case. "This is the first time I've heard about it," Putin says, promising to "sort it out." Fedotov also appealed to FSB director Nikolai Bortnikov, but none of the internal investigations into the Network Case revealed any wrongdoing by law enforcement officers. The reason is simple: law enforcement agencies investigate themselves, and complaints of torture and other wrongdoing are sent down the chain of command to the local level—to those guilty of torture and other crimes.
Moscow State University graduate student Azat Miftakhov is detained by police. At the police department, he slashes his wrists—to avoid torture, as he explains to his lawyer. According to one theory, Miftakhov has been detained in an attempt to "uncover" the Network's "Moscow cell."
Azat Miftakhov. Photo: Victoria Odissonova/Novaya Gazeta
A petition is posted on Change.org demanding that the Network Case be dropped and that the allegations of torture be investigated. It is signed by rock musician Andrey Makarevich, actress Liya Akhedzhakova, writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya, actress Natalya Fateyeva, animator Garri Bardin, and many others.
On April 8, by decision of the Moscow District Military Court, the FSB places the Network on its list of "terrorist" organizations. It bothers no one that the guilt of the defendants in the case has not yet been proven in court.
The case is brought to trial: the [Penza] trial will last until February 10, 2020. At the trial, the prosecution's witnesses will recant their earlier statements, which they claim were given either under duress or misrepresented. The prosecution still has confessions made under torture, the testimony of secret witnesses, and physical evidence, including internet correspondence and computer files that were altered after they were confiscated, weapons of unknown origin, and a conclusion by FSB experts that the defendants constituted a group, and Pchelintsev was their leader. This is enough to persuade the court to sentence the seven Penza defendants to 86 years in prison in total: Pchelintsev is sentenced to 18 years; Shakursky, to 16; Chernov, to 14; Ivankin, to 13; Kulkov, to 10; Kuksov, to 9; and Sagynbayev, to 6.
Penza Network defendants during the reading of the verdict. Photo: Victoria Odissonova/Novaya Gazeta
There is unprecedented public outrage at the verdict and the prison sentences requested by the prosecutor. Hundreds of open letters and appeals—from musicians, poets, cinematographers, book publishers, artists, teachers, and municipal councilors—are published. For the first time in Russia, the practice of torture by the special services is openly and massively condemned. The verdict is called an attempt to intimidate the Russian people. The public demands a review of the Network Case and an investigation of the claims of torture. People stand in a huge queue on Moscow's Lubyanka Square to take turns doing solo pickets.
Journalist Nikolai Solodnikov, holding a placard that reads, "I demand an investigation of the torture in the Network Case." Photo: Svetlana Vidanova/Novaya Gazeta
But a week later, the wave of indignation is shot down. Meduza publishes a controversial article, "Four Went In, Only Two Returned," in which a certain Alexei Poltavets confesses to a double murder that he committed, allegedly, with defendants in the Network Case. There had long been rumors about the so-called Ryazan Case—the murders of Artyom Dorofeyev and Ekaterina Levchenko in the woods near Ryazan—within the activist community, but the story had never surfaced, because there was no evidence. There is no evidence now, either: the Network's involvement in the murder is not corroborated by anything other than the claims made by Poltavets. Poltavets himself is in Kiev, and no formal murder charges are made against the Network. But it is enough to discredit the solidarity campaign. Now, in the eyes of society, those who take the side of the Network Case defendants are defending murderers. Public outrage fades, and the verdict remains the same.
In Petersburg, Filinkov and Boyarshinov are sentenced to seven years and five and a half years in prison, respectively. Shishkin made a deal with the investigation and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in 2019.
Viktor Filinkov and Yuli Boyarshinov. Photo: David Frenkel/Mediazona
Putin signs a decree awarding Sergei Sizov the rank of lieutenant general. Other Russia activists are arrested in Chelyabinsk. The so-called Chelyabinsk Case begins.
The appeals hearing in the Network Case has begun. It is held in the closed city of Vlasikha near Moscow, with a video link from Penza. The issue now is not torture, but the lack of evidence for the verdict. And indeed, from the point of view of any lawyer, the verdict look quite odd. It is not the verdict of an independent court, but a rewrite of excerpts from the case file and the indictment, a sloppy collection of unconfirmed facts and unreliable expertise. The verdict is reminiscent of the famous line from the 1979 Soviet TV miniseries The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed: "He's going to prison! I said so."
The appeal hearing ends and the verdict is upheld. The authorities have enacted their revenge. The defense concludes that there is no more justice in Russia.
Translated by the Russian Reader. Please read my previous posts on the Network Case, and go to Rupression.com to find out how you can show your solidarity with the defendants in the case.
By hecksinductionhourin random October 20, 2020 2,196 Words1 Comment
"The Network Case Is Russia's Disgrace"
Natalia Sivohina
"The Network Case is Russia's disgrace." Photo of Natalia Sivohina courtesy of her Facebook page
One of the most vile criminal cases in our country turned three years old today. Although it is far from the only such case, it has been very revealing. I remember the desperate social media posts by the young ladies from the [Petersburg] Public Monitoring Commission, Yana Teplitskaya and Katya Kosarevskaya, when the relatives and the lawyers looked for the first people interrogated as part of the case. FSB "investigators" communicated with them using stun guns.
Then there were the mendacious TV broadcasts by propagandists, numerous letters in support of the guys, and the rivers of sleaze in "bespoke" articles and posts. And there were the huge sentences [for all of the defendants] and tuberculosis for two of them—for conversations, for idiotic videos, for confessions obtained under duress, which the young men, yesterday's children, recanted in the courtroom. The appeals hearing for the Penza defendants is currently underway. Now everybody knows the names and faces of the nighttime torturers and the scum who concocted this case in broad daylight. I really hope to live to see the trial at which those fraudsters will get what they have coming to them. And to see the guys released and testify against them.
Dear universe or whatever your name is, please make it happen sooner rather than later.
By hecksinductionhourin protest, regime, social media, solidarity, youth, zeitgeist October 18, 2020 October 18, 2020 1,040 Words1 Comment
18 Years in Prison for "Et Cetera" (Penza Network Case Appeals Hearing)
18 Years in Prison for "Et Cetera"
Why the FSB cannot manage any case without resorting to torture: on the appeals hearing in the Penza Network case
Everything about the Network Case is seemingly clear. All of the defendants have been found guilty and sentenced to six to eighteen years in prison. Public support has subsided due to a fake news hit job against the defendants. The matter is closed, and you can switch with a clear conscience to other news items: Belarus, Khabarovsk, Navalny, and so on.
But why is it, then, that every time I come to Penza, inconspicuous-looking tough guys follow me around town? Why do the court bailiffs try their darnedest to close the formally open court hearings in the case to the public? Why, finally, was testimony given under torture removed from the case file? Are the authorities afraid?
Yes, they are afraid. Six months have passed, but the case is still a bugbear for the FSB.
Photo courtesy of Sota.Vision and Novaya Gazeta
There are five pairs of handcuffs on the railing that separates us from the prisoners. They look like broken Olympic rings. They are for defendants Pchelintsev, Shakursky, Chernov, Kulkov, and Ivankin. The two other defendants, Kuksov and Sagynbayev, are sitting separately: they have tuberculosis.
The appeals hearing begins on a terribly dark note: the guys are told about the death of the Alexei "Socrates" Sutuga. Kuksov says, "That is beyond awful." In the three years since they've been in police custody, a lot has happened, including the New Greatness case, the Ivan Golunov case, the Moscow case, the presidential "reset," and, finally, the coronavirus. The context has changed completely. There is a photo in the case file of the defendants wearing black masks. It looks really scary. It would suffice to show it to laypeople for them to conclude the defendants were terrorists, of course. The court also thought so.
But now half the country goes around in masks, and it frightens no one.
In the 1930s, there were associations of former political prisoners in the USSR. Amid the turbulent events at the turn of the century, the old-style political prisoners appeared anachronistic. One war, two revolutions, another war, and rivers of blood had flowed since they had served time under the tsars for impertinence to their superiors, involvement in student political groups, and other nonsense. That government, just like this one, did not like students and those who were impertinent to their superiors. They put them in jail and beat them at demos. We remember how that whole story ended.
Pchelintsev says it outright: "We have been sacrificed." Yes, they are classic victims of history.
Dmitry Pchelintsev. Photo by Alexei Obukhov. Courtesy of Novaya Gazeta
The first few hours of the hearing are spent on technical issues that, however, are not so technical. The numerous complaints filed by the defense lawyers boil down to the fact that the convicts were not given a good look at the case files and other documents from their trial nor allowed to voice their complaints. The court turns down all the defense's motions and requests.
It's as if court is saying, You don't need to need what you're in prison for. If you're in prison it means that is how it has to be.
The defense's complaints against the verdict can be divided into three parts.
1. The Witnesses
At the trial, the prosecution's witnesses (!) did not confirm the veracity of their pretrial testimony. Some of the witnesses even disavowed it. Some admitted they had been pressured during the investigation. Some, it transpired, testified to what other people had told them. But the court was not in the least troubled by this fact: for some reason nothing bothers it at all.
That leaves the secret witnesses: there are six of them in the case. One of them, identified as "Kabanov," is an experienced provocateur (Novaya Gazeta has written about him): this is not his first job for the security services. Another of them could not really explain what he had witnessed. Three of the witnesses claimed that the defendants had told them about their criminal plans after they had been arrested and remanded in custody, that is, in the remand prison in Penza.
Could this have happened? It's unlikely, but let's assume it is true. And yet these same "witnesses" could not even correctly describe the defendants' physical appearance and the setting in which the conversation allegedly took place. Not to mention the fact that prisoners are always dependent. It is an easy matter for the authorities to put pressure on them, to frighten them, to force them to give the "right" testimony in court in exchange for better conditions.
Investigators put testimony obtained from the defendants under torture in the mouths of these witnesses. You get the feeling that they carried the transcripts of the interrogations around them and read them aloud to the first people they met.
Finally, there is the small matter that the transcripts of the interrogations do not match the videos of the interrogations. A person would literally say one thing in the transcript and another thing in the video recordings. The court looked at the videos, compared them with the transcripts, nodded, and everything was left as it was. There is no mention of these discrepancies in the verdict.
2. The Forensic Examinations
Almost all the investigation's forensic examinations have been refuted by independent experts and specialists. Among the reasons cited by them are incompetence, bias, non-compliance with established standards, and even falsification. It is for falsifications in the Network Case that the Military Investigative Committee is now reviewing FSB Investigator Valery Tokarev. It is so obvious that even their own people don't believe it.
Although the court claims that defense's forensic examinations do not contradict the FSB's forensic examinations, they actually do. None of the FSB's forensic examinations passed the test, neither the computer examination, the linguistic examination nor the psychological examination.
We must give the court its due: it more often than not did enter findings and testimony that were unpleasant to the prosecution into evidence. But it did not evaluate them in any way and did not take them into account when rendering its verdict. There they are. Sure, qualified specialists have proven that the FSB's forensic examinations are bullshit, and they can say so if they like. But this has no bearing whatsoever on the verdict.
3. Bias and Presumption of Guilt
Each letter of the verdict indicates that the court was biased in favor of the prosecution. The trial need not have taken place. The investigative case file and the court's published findings are nearly identical. In fact, it was the FSB who tried the Network defendants, not the court. The court only signed off on their pre-ordained verdict.
As many people have heard, Russia has an independent judiciary.
And here is the icing on the cake, the culmination of this theater of the absurd: the Volga District Military Court that handed down the guilty verdict in the Network Case did not officially exist when the verdict was rendered. So, it is not clear exactly who tried the case.
The Penza Network Case defendants during the trial. Photo by Alexei Obukhov. Courtesy of Novaya Gazeta
Let's leave aside for a moment the FSB's use of torture, the injustice of the case, and the court's bias. Even if everything had been objective and impartial, from a legal point of view this is not a verdict, but the delirium of a madman. What does a sentence like the following tell us?
"The participants took clandestine security measures, as evidenced by the presence of aliases, communication on the internet using secure protocols, trips to other cities in passing vehicles, et cetera."
A huge number of questions immediately come to mind.
Half of the people on the internet uses aliases (aka usernames). Are all of them involved in "clandestine security measures"?
Secure protocols are a feature, for example, of Telegram, which is used by half of the country, including government agencies. So, does this mean we should only use insecure protocols? Then the authorities should put an end to it, they should criminalize secure protocols and warn us not to use them.
No one has ever accused hitchhikers of using "clandestine security measures." This is a game changer for criminology.
Finally, the "et cetera." This was written by adults. How could "et cetera" be grounds for sentencing someone to eighteen years in prison? How could anyone write such nonsense in a verdict at all?
The defendants communicate with their relatives. Photo by Alexei Obukhov. Courtesy of Novaya Gazeta
Konstantin Kartashov, Maxim Ivankin's lawyer: "I cannot call this document a verdict."
Oxana Markeyeva, Dmitry Pchelintsev's lawyer: "The verdict does not meet the procedural requirements."
Translated into plain language, this means the judges did a poor job, a shabby job. If they had been building a house instead of writing a verdict, the house would have collapsed.
The reason for all these inconsistencies is simple: the guilt of the defendants was proved not in the course of the investigation, but in the course of torturing them. The FSB, however, were afraid to use this testimony, obtained under duress, although they would not admit to torturing the defendants. But without it, nothing sticks. Without it, the verdict is just a random pile of dubious evidence vouched for by the authority of Russian state security. The main thing you need to know about the case is that seven young men were sentenced to terms in prison from six to eighteen years, and their guilt was not proven in court. And this unproven guilt is a threat to all of us—not just to opposition activists, but to anyone walking down the street who catches the eye of FSB field agents.
There are so many problems with the verdict that it is impossible even to state all of them in one or two appeals hearings. There is little hope that the court will heed the arguments of the defense. There is an aura of hopelessness about the case. But it has to be brought to a close because a lot of things hang in its balance. After all, the verdict is based mainly on suspicion—on the fact that, hypothetically, the defendants could have "organized a terrorist community." In theory, any of us could organize one. We are all under suspicion.
The lawyers in this case are not only defending Pchelintsev, Shakursky, Chernov, Kulkov, Ivankin, Kuksov, and Sagynbayev. They are also defending society, the right of each of us to be protected from the FSB. When they lose their appeal, they will keep going—to the European Court of Human Rights, to the Court of Cassation, to the Russian Supreme Court. Everyone involved in engineering this verdict should realize that they will inevitably have to account for their actions, and at the highest level. I don't know about criminal responsibility, but universal disgrace is inevitable. They must answer for what they have done, and sooner or later they will answer for it.
Translated by the Russian Reader. Please read my previous posts on the Network Case (see the list, below), and go to Rupression.com to find out how you can show your solidarity with the other defendants in the case.
"Parents Demand Release of Netfwork Defendants Due to Coronavirus," 1 April 2020
By hecksinductionhourin antifascism, journalism, putinism, regime, regions, solidarity, zeitgeist September 3, 2020 2,646 WordsLeave a comment
Jenya Kulakova: A Sunny Downpour
Jenya Kulakova
I exit the remand prison on Shpalernaya Street—and find myself in a sunny downpour. From inside, the storm seemed much darker. (Many things probably seem much darker inside the prison.). I stand under the awning of Center "E" and look across the road at the prison, dazzling in silver drops from the sky, in the spray made by the wheels of passing cars. I'm under the awning and safe, but my feet are getting a little wet. For a short time the street is quiet, there are no people or cars. A small rainbow falls directly on Shpalernaya from the sky, vanishing in a few minutes.
I will tell Vitya [Viktor Filinkov] about this when we meet, just I told him about the bat that flies at night in the courtyard near the prison. And he told me how a pigeon had flown into their prison cell and landed on his trousers, and how he and his cellmate had caught it by donning plastic bags. They had chased it out of the window and fed it prison bread.
About the verdict.* Vitya had received it on Thursday and immediately read it, but he hadn't looked at it again. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, he plans to write and send an appeal. When I asked him to comment on the verdict, he could not say anything printable—he cursed loudly and waved his hands. When I asked him one more time to make a publishable statement on the matter, he slumped his head on the table. That was when I realized that it was his verdict and his seven years in prison, and he could comment or not comment on them as he wished.
He will write an appeal, of course, there is no doubt about it. Although he doesn't feel like doing it at all: he says that he is always busy with something, and there is not enough time. He reads a lot about math (I only remember something about graph theory, but there are a lot of other topics), devises assignments for a training course on "pogromming," and studies English. He's apparently in good health, and his mood is also cheerful. However, the last couple of weeks he has had increased problems with sleep. He falls asleep in the morning, when it is already time to get up. (And this is despite the fact that since February, he has been taking drugs that should also level out his sleep.)
The censor is on vacation, and for three weeks, Vitya has received no letters from the outside world. (I don't think he is able to send letters, either). But he gets Novaya Gazeta once a week, so Vitya is more or less aware of all the news. The library has been undergoing repairs of some kind, so a month ago, Vitya and his cellmate had to return all their library books, but they cannot take out new ones yet.
Update (added here from the comments). The coronavirus restrictions, imposed in early April, have almost all been lifted: the receipt of care packages and parcels has resumed, as well as visits with relatives. Meetings with lawyers no longer take place through glass, but all visitors must still wear masks and gloves. The mysterious "cleaning day" on Friday, when lawyers cannot visit clients, is also still in place.
*The verdict has been mailed to Vitaly [Cherkasov] and me by mail, and is still on its way, but Olga Krivonos has posted it here, so you can read it.
Photo by and courtesy of Jenya Kulakova. Translated by the Russian Reader. Please read my previous posts on Viktor Filinkov and the Network Case (see below), and go to Rupression.com to find out how you can show your solidarity with him and the other defendants in the case. All of them now face long terms in prison unless their guilty verdicts are reversed on appeal, which is not going to happen as long as the current regime remains in power, unfortunately.
By hecksinductionhourin antifascism, censorship, petrograd, rights, solidarity, zeitgeist August 2, 2020 1,424 WordsLeave a comment
Viktor Filinkov: The Big Picture
Viktor Filinkov, political prisoner: "An idealist who takes on responsibility for the big picture"
People and Nature
While Black Lives Matter demonstrators fill the streets of cities around the world, opening a new chapter in the history of anti-racist and anti-fascist struggle, the Russian anti-fascists Viktor Filinkov and Yuli Boyarshinov are starting long jail sentences.
A St Petersburg court sentenced Filinkov to seven years, and Boyarshinov to five-and-a-half, on 22 June, on trumped-up charges of involvement in a "terrorist grouping" – the "Network". In February, seven other defendants were jailed by a court in Penza for between six and 18 years, and last year another in St Petersburg for three-and-a-half years.
Detailed evidence that the "Network" case defendants were subjected to horrific tortures after their arrest has been published and submitted to state bodies. President Vladimir Putin last year cynically promised to look into it. Nevertheless, the defendants have been railroaded to penal colonies.
This portrait of Viktor Filinkov – who refused to admit guilt and received one of the heaviest sentences – is by Yevgeny Antonov. It was first published in Russian by the Petersburg news outlet Bumaga.
Viktor Filinkov in court. Photo by David Frenkel, Mediazona
On Monday 22 June, the 2nd Western District Military Court [in St Petersburg] announced the sentences on the Petersburg defendants in the "Network" case, Viktor Filinkov and Yuli Boyarshinov. They were found guilty of involvement in a terrorist grouping (article 205.4, part 2 of the criminal code). Filinkov was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony (standard regime). Boyarshinov got five and a half years (Yuli was also convicted of the illegal possession of explosive materials (article 222.1, part 1)).
Four days before the sentencing, Filinkov addressed the court. The 25-year old computer programmer set out the inconsistencies in the prosecutor's case, and used diagrams to show why the PGP [Pretty Good Privacy encryption] programme would not be used by a conspiratorial terrorist group, as the prosecution had claimed.
In his closing statement, Filinkov stated that the internal affairs ministry, the prosecutor, the federal prison service, the Investigative Committee, the federal security service [FSB], the court and the legislature had worked in bad faith. He accused them of obeying orders unquestioningly and of being unwilling to investigate the case.
"The nine-year sentence that the prosecutor has asked for seems like some sort of indication of respect for everything that I have done", Filinkov said. "All of them have disgraced themselves. I don't know what the solution to this situation is."
Viktor Filinkov at work. Photo courtesy of Rupression
Viktor Filinkov was born in Petropavlovsk, in Kazakhstan. His mother worked in a jeweller's shop; his father, who worked installing medical equipment, died when Viktor was 11; and his elder sister lived away from home.
"We waited so long for Viktor. And when he was born, he grew up loved and cared for, by grandparents, by his aunts and uncles, and by us", Natalia Filinkova, Viktor's mother, told Bumaga. "He hardly knew the word 'no'. He was a good, kind child, very honest, strong-willed. Right from when he went to nursery, if he didn't like something, he would say so straight out. He would tell anyone, to their face, what he thought. I used to ask him, 'why so direct?' and he would answer 'because it's true!'."
According to Natalia, electronics caught her son's imagination when he was still a child. At six, he used his sister's computer to read up about it. At ten, he would put together robots. As a teenager, he learned programming and won computer competitions. In court, Filinkov's colleagues from the IT company where he worked confirmed his remarkable skills as a programmer.
"He hadn't yet started going to school, when he told me, when I grow up I'll be professor, earn lots and lots of money and buy KAMAZ [the truck construction company], so that it can make lots of money too. He obviously thought professors are high earners", Natalia joked.
After Viktor's father's death, the family had to spend less, and moved to a smaller flat, but was still free of serious financial problems. Viktor's wife, Aleksandra Aksenova, said that he described his childhood as difficult. "He saw how his mum and his sister kept their noses to the grindstone. But still, they had no money for meal time treats. I well remember how Viktor said that, when he was a child, butter was a real treat. It was not starvation, but it was definitely poverty."
Viktor is described as a sociable person, with dozens of friends, who loves social gatherings. According to his mother, he was a voracious reader as a teenager – of technical books from school in particular. And he would sit on the internet and play computer games.
Aleksandra Aksenova says that Viktor mentioned to her his dislike of the education system in Kazakhstan, and his frequent arguments with his school teachers. "One thing that's striking about Viktor is that he loves a good argument. Once he has worked out his position, he is very good at defending it. But also, if it turns out he is wrong, he's not afraid to say so.
"Although he didn't like the way the school system worked, he was anything but stupid. With STEM subjects he was in his element. And he argued with his teachers, often because he knew more than they did."
Viktor himself says that, as he got older, he wore his hair long, on account of which the school management "tried to put pressure on him". Around this time, Filinkov's anti-fascist and anarchist views took shape.
Viktor Filinkov (third from left) with schoolmates in Kazakhstan. Photo courtesy of Mediazona
"At some point when Vitya was in the 9th year [i.e. at 15], he said that he had become keen on anarchism", Natalia Filinkova remembers. "Surely he read about it on the internet, there was plenty
Viktor Filinkov (third from left) as a school pupil. Photo: zona.media
written there. This was shortly after [the lawyer, Stanislav] Markelov and [the journalist Anastasia] Baburova were killed [in Moscow]. This had a real effect on Viktor; he wanted justice."
Viktor's mother says, however, that they did not talk about politics. In court, she said: "He was a good example to others. At no time did he suggest that he was against the government."
Viktor Filinkov in happier times. Photo courtesy of Rupression
In 2013 Viktor finished school and moved to Omsk, [in western Siberia, in Russia] where he started studying in the faculty of information and communications technology at Omsk state university.
Viktor never graduated. After two-and-a-half years he abandoned his studies, because his mum became "seriously ill". (Natalia asked that the diagnosis remain confidential). Filinkov started work, earning 30,000 rubles [400 euros at 2016 exchange rate] per month.
Viktor was happy to quit university, a friend from that time told Bumaga; he complained that classes were boring. This source said that Filinkov soon understood that he had hit the pay ceiling in Omsk, and thought about moving on.
Viktor's wife recalls that at that time he began to participate in anti-fascist actions and to support human rights campaigns. In 2014-16 he stood on picket lines opposing redundancies among health workers, supported trade unions and attended demonstrations in memory of Markelov and Baburova.
By 2015 Viktor was a committed anti-fascist, an acquaintance from Omsk told Bumaga. According to them, Viktor came to these beliefs himself, without reading "ideological literature" such as the work of [Pyotr] Kropotkin or [Mikhail] Bakunin.
"We first met in 2015, when he was hanging around the university with his friends", this source recalls. "We had interests in common – in computer technology, and sport – and became friends. There was a small circle there [in Omsk] of people who were anti-authoritarian: a milieu of young leftists, who shared a clear understanding: racism – no way, capitalism – no way."
This friend of Filinkov's said they were "not the sort who build communes and prepare revolution": their main aim was to create horizontal cooperation, within which people could live side-by-side comfortably and help each other. This way of living was seen as an alternative to the state's.
Aleksandra Aksenova, with whom Filinkov often discussed his time in Omsk, said: "He grew up in conditions of great social injustice. He also saw people's attitudes to him, due to the fact he was a citizen of another country [Kazakhstan]. How could he not become an anti-fascist?"
Viktor himself has said that in 2016, because of the views he held, he was several times attacked by nationalists.
Both Aksenova and Filinkov's friend from Omsk said that Viktor had come to know Aleksei Poltavets, who would later confess to the murder of an associate of the "Network" defendants in Penza. Of the other future defendants Viktor knew little, but he had heard their names, says the source in Omsk.
"It wasn't so much about going to demonstrations or getting together in groups", Filinkov's Omsk friend said. "It was that we tried to live by the principles of anti-authoritarianism, anarchism, anti-fascism. And of course we spent time together: cycling, skating, playing around with Linux, trying to write [computer] programmes, listening to music, hanging out, climbing on roofs."
Police detain a demonstrator outside the courthouse in Petersburg where Filinkov and Boyarshinov were sentenced on June 22, 2020. Photo by David Frenkel, Mediazona
Viktor met his future wife in the summer of 2015 at an anti-fascist concert in Moscow. Aleksandra then lived in Moscow, Filinkov was just visiting. They kept in touch on line, then began talking on the phone and in mid 2016 decided to meet in Penza, midway between Omsk and St Petersburg, where Aleksandra then lived.
Aleksandra had by then got to know many anti-fascists and anarchists, including future defendants in the "network" case: she was friends with Dmitry Pchelintsev, knew Arman Sagynbaev, Igor Shishkin, Andrei Chernov and Yuli Boyarshinov, and had communicated with Ilya Shakursky. Filinkov himself said that, even by the time of the court case, he had only known some of the other defendants indirectly, or met them just once.
"My comrades got to know Vitya", Aksenova remembers. "They grew pretty fond of him, because he knew so much about so many things. They would endlessly come to see him. 'Vitek, help with this, help with that, my computer is broken, I need to find something, how can this be done safely?' And he would sit and explain everything."
Aksenova says that Filinkov grew to like Dmitry Pchelintsev, the shooting instructor and anti-fascist, who the FSB would later name as the founder of the "network" terrorist organisation. "It's no secret to anybody that one of most well-read guys in Penza was Dmitry Pchelintsev", Aksenova says. "He could explain his reasoning, sometimes very romanticised and sometimes loudly, but it was always interesting to talk with him."
In court, Filinkov's lawyer, Vitaly Cherkasov, insisted that in Penza Viktor hardly spent time with any of the others, since he was "so enchanted with his lover".
In September 2016, Filinkov found work at a Petersburg start-up. He and Aleksandra began to live together, and then got married – partly so that Viktor could become a Russian citizen.
At the same time, Filinkov got to know Sagynbaev, and began to attend lectures on first aid. In 2017 Aksenova applied for permission to acquire a firearm: the couple then kept it in a safe in their flat.
In the same year Filinkov, along with other anti-fascists, began to visit a flat at Bogatyrsky Prospekt 22. Aksenova says: "These were meetings of friends. They discussed community projects, and how they could cooperate with each other. As was stated in court, they talked about, among other things, sociological methods of study, and how to develop a culture of discussion."
When, at the end of 2017, Pchelintsev and other activists in Penza disappeared, Filinkov and Aleksandra tried to find out what had happened to them. Aksenova decided to travel to Kiev, and in January 2018, when it became known that the Petersburg anti-fascist Yuli Boyarshinov had been arrested, Viktor decided to fly out to join her.
Filinkov had a ticket for a Kiev flight two days after Boyarshinov was detained. He told his wife that he was leaving for the airport, but never made it to the Ukrainian capital. Aleksandra searched for her husband for two days. Later on it became clear that he had been detained by FSB officers. Filinkov said that in those days the officers tortured him with an electric shocker, in order to obtain a confession.
Filinkov and Boyarshinov at a court hearing in 2018
Filinkov spent two-and-a-half years in an Investigative Detention Centre (SIZO). During that time he reported injuries he had sustained as a result of the torture. He was diagnosed with a ruptured spinal disc, and prescribed medicine for psychological problems that he suffered.
According to the FSB, Viktor Filinkov, together with other members of the "Network", in 2016-18 acquired firearms and learned how to use them, and "acquired the practical means to seize a building", with the aim of making violent change to the constitutional order. The FSB claimed that the group, in which Filinkov allegedly took part, aimed at the "armed overthrow of the state power". In the prosecution case, Viktor was named as the signals operative.
The prosecutors argued that Filinkov spoke about being tortured in order to discredit Russia's law enforcement agencies. As evidence, they adduced the fact that Viktor did not officially inform anyone about the torture before he met with Vitaly Cherkasov, his lawyer, on 26 January [2018]. Cherkasov asserts that his client was in a state of shock, and says that he himself saw the marks [on Filinkov] that resulted from him being beaten.
Members of the Public Monitoring Commission [a civic organisation empowered to monitor conditions in places of detention] also confirmed that there were signs of torture. But no independent medical examination was conducted. Viktor's mother met with him only several months after his arrest: according to her, it was cold and her son wore a coat: all she saw was a scar on his chin.
When the court hearings began in Petersburg, Filinkov at practically every opportunity spoke of his innocence and rejected the prosecution's claims. In open court he said: "All that I can say is: no, it's not true. The burden of proof lies with the prosecution. But for two-and-a-half years, the authorities have shown their bias. They have wagged their fingers at me and said that I have to prove that I am not a camel."
Filinkov's work colleagues said in court that he had spoken openly with several of them about his wife's legal possession of a firearm. He had introduced her to them as "Olga" – which the FSB claimed was a conspiratorial pseudonym. The prosecution also claimed that Filinkov's "code name" was Gena. Viktor himself insists that people started to call him by that nickname in Omsk, because sometimes he laughed "like a hyena" ["giyena" in Russian].
Public defender Jenya Kulakova (left) photographs Network Case defendants Viktor Filinkov (center) and Yuli Boyarshinov. Courtesy of Jenya Kulakova
People who know Viktor well have told Bumaga that they understand why he refused to confess, which theoretically could have reduced his sentence. (According to Vitaly Cherkasov, after arrest Filinkov was offered a three-year term [if he confessed].)
"That's just his character. He won't confess to something that he didn't do", Viktor's mother Natalia said. "I know what he is thinking: if a person is right, why should he incriminate himself? Knowing him, I wouldn't even dare to ask if he would think about making a deal. I couldn't have brought myself to say it to him. Just impossible."
Aleksandra explains her husband's decision in terms of the "prisoner's dilemma" in game theory. There is a choice for two sides: betray each other, or cooperate. Betrayal brings greater gains for each side, and for this reason it is assumed that rational players will choose betrayal. But if both sides turn traitor, the total winnings will be less than if they cooperate.
"When all the defendants in a fabricated trial refuse to admit their guilt, and insist on what they see as the truth, then the mathematical chance that they will all be given the maximum sentence is reduced", Aleksandra says. "In such a case there's a possibility that the whole case will just collapse. Because everyone will say what really happened. But in our case, things were complicated because there were only three defendants in Petersburg."
Officially, the other Petersburg "network" defendants – Igor Shishkin and Yuli Boyarshinov – made no statements that they had been tortured. But after they were first detained, members of the Public Monitoring Commission learned that Shishkin had been diagnosed with a large number of bruises and instances of localised internal bleeding, and that the bone around his eye [the lower orbital wall] had been broken. Boyarshinov stated that FSB officers came to see him in the detention centre, and that other detainees had threatened to rape him.
In his final statement to the court, Filinkov said that he understood both Yuli Boyarshinov, who had confessed to his guilt, and Igor Shishkin, who had cooperated with the investigation (and already in 2019 been sentenced to three-and-a-half years). Viktor considers that they saw no other way out.
Aksenova concludes: "He is an idealist. An idealist who sees the need to take his place in history, who takes upon himself responsibility for the big picture.
"If there were no such idealists, then we would never have an example to follow, of how a person should act in such circumstances. Maybe it will seem to some people that Viktor's words and actions were rash, and doomed to fail from the outset. I would not argue. But these words and actions are a necessity, for us to stand up for our ideals." 3 July 2020.
■ Please visit the Rupression web site, to see how you can support the "Network" case prisoners.
■ For more coverage of Filinkov and Boyarshinov's trial, and of the case, see The Russian Reader, Open Democracy Russia, and Freedom News. People & Nature has written about the case too, e.g. here, and about international solidarity events.
Thanks to People & Nature for permission to reprint this article. \\ TRR
By hecksinductionhourin antifascism, petrograd, putinism, regime, solidarity, youth, zeitgeist July 4, 2020 July 4, 2020 3,066 WordsLeave a comment
We Can Dance If We Want To
His hands trembling and sounding breathless, Judge Muranov sentenced Vitya [Viktor Filinkov] to 7 years and Julian [Yuli Boyarshinov] to 5 1/2 years in prison. He read out the date of Vitya's ACTUAL arrest, that is, a day before his arrest was registered in the case file. (I wonder how this will be substantiated in the published verdict.)
We took a selfie as a keepsake.
As I was leaving the empty courtroom, I shouted, "Guys, we need to dance!" and I danced a little jig. The guys seemed to be smiling, but the bailiff said, "Dance somewhere else, young lady." Where else should I dance? I think this is the most appropriate place.
#NetworkCase #OperationBarbarossa #Antifa
As my virtual acquaintance Liza Smirnova just reminded her readers, June 22 is not just any day for people in the former Soviet Union. In fact, you could hardly think of a more inappropriate day to sentence two young antifascists to twelve and a half years in prison.
Operation Barbarossa (German: Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, which started on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. The operation put into action Nazi Germany's ideological goal of conquering the western Soviet Union so as to repopulate it with Germans. The German Generalplan Ost aimed to use some of the conquered as slave labour for the Axis war effort, to acquire the oil reserves of the Caucasus and the agricultural resources of Soviet territories, and eventually through extermination, enslavement, Germanization and mass deportation to Siberia, remove the Slavic peoples and create Lebensraum for Germany.
In the two years leading up to the invasion, Germany and the Soviet Union signed political and economic pacts for strategic purposes. Nevertheless, the German High Command began planning an invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1940 (under the codename Operation Otto), which Adolf Hitler authorized on 18 December 1940. Over the course of the operation, about three million personnel of the Axis powers—the largest invasion force in the history of warfare—invaded the western Soviet Union along a 2,900-kilometer (1,800 mi) front, with 600,000 motor vehicles and over 600,000 horses for non-combat operations. The offensive marked an escalation of World War II, both geographically and in the formation of the Allied coalition including the Soviet Union.
The operation opened up the Eastern Front, in which more forces were committed than in any other theater of war in history. The area saw some of the war's largest battles, most horrific atrocities, and highest casualties (for Soviet and Axis forces alike), all of which influenced the course of World War II and the subsequent history of the 20th century. The German armies eventually captured some five million Soviet Red Army troops, a majority of whom never returned alive. The Nazis deliberately starved to death, or otherwise killed, 3.3 million Soviet prisoners of war, and a vast number of civilians, as the "Hunger Plan" worked to solve German food shortages and exterminate the Slavic population through starvation. Mass shootings and gassing operations, carried out by the Nazis or willing collaborators, murdered over a million Soviet Jews as part of the Holocaust.
The failure of Operation Barbarossa reversed the fortunes of the Third Reich. Operationally, German forces achieved significant victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the Soviet Union (mainly in Ukraine) and inflicted, as well as sustained, heavy casualties. Despite these early successes, the German offensive stalled in the Battle of Moscow at the end of 1941, and the subsequent Soviet winter counteroffensive pushed German troops back. The Germans had confidently expected a quick collapse of Soviet resistance as in Poland, but the Red Army absorbed the German Wehrmacht's strongest blows and bogged it down in a war of attrition for which the Germans were unprepared. The Wehrmacht's diminished forces could no longer attack along the entire Eastern Front, and subsequent operations to retake the initiative and drive deep into Soviet territory—such as Case Blue in 1942 and Operation Citadel in 1943—eventually failed, which resulted in the Wehrmacht's retreat and collapse.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/06/22/russia-jails-e2-anti-fascists-ending-terror-case-plagued-by-torture-claims-a70653
"Plagued by torture claims" is a funny way of putting it. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) is the real plague. It tortured the defendants in the Network Case and concocted their alleged "terrorist community" from whole cloth.
I realize that editors and journalists think they're being "balanced" when they report the news this way. But in reality they're lending legitimacy to systematic state terror against dissidents, minorities, and oddballs.
Where are these people going? Why are they in a caged bus?
Why are they singing? What are they singing?
They made the "mistake" of being outside the courthouse in Petersburg earlier today to protest the outrageous but predictable verdict in the trial of Viktor Filinkov and Yuli Boyarshinov, who were sentenced by a military court to 7 and 5 1/2 years in prison, respectively, for the awful crime of being antifascists in a country run by a certifiable fascist, Vladimir Putin.
What will happen to the people in this bus? I don't know for certain, but I would guess they'll be held at a police precinct overnight and then taken to their own kangaroo court hearings sometime tomorrow, where they will be sentenced to as many as 15 days in jail and stiff fines.
Thanks to Marina Ken for the video and much else.
Earlier today in Petersburg, the final two defendants in the notorious frame-up known, hilariously, as the Network Case, were sentenced to seven and five and a half years in prison, respectively, for "involvement in a terrorist community."
In reality, anxious to show their paranoid fascist president that he was right to surround himself with one of the largest security and bureaucratic apparatuses in history, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) abducted and tortured a dozen absolutely harmless young men in Penza and Petersburg, and then cooked up a fascist fairy tale about how these young men (many of whom most of us would be happy to have as neighbors) were actually a secret "terrorist community," code-named "the Network," who were planning to cause mayhem on the eve of Putin's triumphant re-election and the soccer World Cup in 2018.
There wasn't any "Network," and it had no plans of doing anything of the sort. But it is now over two and a half years since the FSB kicked off its little adventure in Penza (in October 2017). Over the last year, the ten defendants in the case have been sentenced to a total of 110 years in prison due to the FSB's sick fantasy.
Thanks to the BBC Russian Service for the picture, the news reports and so much else.
It wasn't bad enough that Viktor Filinkov and Yuli Boyarshinov were sentenced today in Petersburg to 7 years and 5 1/2 years, respectively, for "involvement" in the nonexistent "terrorist community" "the Network." No, the Putinist police state had to send a small army of riot police and "Russian National Guardsmen" to the courthouse to settle the hash of the brave people who came out to protest the verdict, which was a foregone conclusion.
If you're sitting in other parts of the world, especially the US, and having a hard time getting your head around this story, just think about the remarkable "coincidence" that, just before his now infamous conference call with US governors, Trump had been chatting with his mentor and idol Vladimir Putin on the phone.
What is happening in Petersburg today is what happens when "policing" is the end all and be of "government," when the powers that be have to preserve their supreme power at all costs, even if this means, ultimately, destroying their people and their country.
Thanks to Yevgenia Litvinova, who shared this video (which she found on Telegram), and all the other people who have taught me the lesson of endurance and solidarity in the face of overwhelming odds.
Edited, written and translated by the Russian Reader
By hecksinductionhourin antifascism, editorial, journalism, petrograd, protest, putinism, social media, solidarity, supah powah, theater, youth, zeitgeist June 22, 2020 June 22, 2020 1,323 WordsLeave a comment
The verdict is tomorrow June 22 at 12:00 p.m.
This is not the end, of course—neither of the struggle nor of this hell. In a sense, it is just the beginning. I really want the guys to feel tomorrow that all of us are behind them and in front of them as they head off on this stage of their lives.
Come to court if you can. The address is Kirochnaya, 35A.
(Of course, come only if your health permits, wear personal protective equipment, try to keep a distance from each other outside and inside the courthouse, and avoid coming into contact with people at risk. Damn covid!)
Translated by the Russian Reader. Learn all about the Network Case here.
By hecksinductionhourin antifascism, petrograd, solidarity June 21, 2020 144 WordsLeave a comment
The Network Trial in Petersburg: Closing Statements by Defendants
Network Trial defendant Viktor Filinkov tells a joke: "A programmer, a businessman, and an industrial climber planned to overthrow the government."
The Penza Case in Petersburg: Closing Statements
Mediazona
The trial of the "Network terrorist community," whose alleged members have been charged with violating Article 205.4.2 of the Criminal Code, is winding down in Petersburg. The Second Western Military District Court has heard the case made by the prosecution, who asked the court to sentence Viktor Filinkov and Yuli Boyarshinov to nine and six years in prison, respectively. The court has also heard the cases made by the defense teams for both defendants. Today, Filinkov and Boyarshinov made their closing statements.
At the previous hearing, on June 17, the prosecution and the defense made their closing arguments. Prosecutor Alexander Vasilenko asked the court to sentence Filinkov to nine years in a medium security penal colony, and Boyarshinov to six years.
The defense team of Boyarshinov, who pleaded guilty, asked the court to make note of their client's "inactive" role in the events described by the prosecution and sentence him to no more than four years and five months in prison and not impose a fine on him.
A scene from the courtroom in Petersburg: Yuli Boyarshinov's lawyers are in the foreground.
In line with their defendant, Filinkov's defense team insisted that his guilt had not been proven by investigators, and the documents that formed the basis of the indictment against him had been falsified by FSB officers. Defense lawyer Vitaly Cherkasov reminded the court of the circumstances of the arrest of Filinkov, who spoke in detail about being tortured [by FSB officers].
The three-judge panel [troika], led by Roman Muranov, enters the courtroom.
The court allows Filinkov to make a closing argument.
"I apologize in advance to everyone involved in the trial: I will be repeating the arguments of my defense lawyers," he says.
Filinkov intends to "go through the indictment." He begins by saying that none of the witnesses identified him as [the alleged Network's] "signalman."
"I assume this is yet another fantasy on the part of [Petersburg FSB investigator Gennady] Belyaev or [Petersburg FSB field officer Konstantin] Bondarev [who arrested and tortured Filinkov]. How I am supposed to defend myself from this?" Filinkov asks.
He says that he had not seen some of the documents in the case file before. He is probably referring to the documents identified as "The Network Code" and "Congress 2017."
"Whom did I provide with means of communication? None of the witnesses said anything about it, and only the defense questioned the witnesses about it," Filinkov says emotionally.
"I didn't vet anyone, I didn't select anyone, I didn't recruit anyone," says Filinkov in response to the next charge in the indictment: that he had selected people for the "terrorist community."
Filinkov quotes the indictment: "Filinkov, Boyarshinov, Pchelintsev, and Shishkin were directly involved in joint training sessions." Filinkov says that Shishkov was not involved in the training sessions, and Boyarshinov participated in only two events. And in any case, they studied first aid, not capturing other people or storming buildings or shooting firearms.
"'Clandestine Security'—page 3 of the indictment. What did this 'elaborate system of security' consist of? Three methods are mentioned in the seventeen volumes of the criminal case file: aliases, PGP encryption, and Jabber," says Filinkov.
Filinkov lists the aliases and says they were not means of conspiracy.
"'Redhead' [Penza Network defendant Maxim Ivankin]: I saw him, and he's a redhead—that's very conspiratorial. 'Twin': as far as know, he has a twin brother," says Filinkov.
Filinkov moves on to PGP encryption. He explains that, in practice, the two or three keys used for such emails consist of a few "very, very large" numbers that cannot be memorized, so they are stored on the computer. Filinkov also notes that the message's subject, sender and recipient are not encrypted—only the text of the message is encrypted.
Viktor Filinkov gives a short primer on how email works—before the head judge cuts him off.
Judge Muranov interrupts Filinkov.
"We don't need a lecture about encryption programs," he says.
The defendant tries to reply.
"The prosecutor doesn't understand how it works—"
Another judge intervenes.
"Then you get together with him and explain it," says the judge.
Filinkov continues.
"It provides privacy, but it doesn't provide secrecy," he says, now in reference to the Jabber protocol for messengers.
"It's built on fantasies—that's exactly how the 'Network terrorist community' was created," Filinkov continues. "And it was badly built to boot. There are incorrect dates [in the case file], and [Penza FSB investigator Vyacheslav] Shepelyov [tampered] with the [text] files."
Filinkov recalls how he, Igor Shishkin, and Ilya Kapustin were tortured, and mentions the verdict and sentence in the Penza trial.
"I don't understand the prosecutor's position. I expected him to drop the charges," Filinkov says. "He won't look at me. I can't expect a response from him, can I?"
"Think a little before you speak," Judge Muranov tells Filinkov.
"Choose your words carefully," adds another judge.
"I don't consider myself guilty, and I ask you to acquit me," Filinkov concludes.
Boyarshinov's closing statement:
"I've been in jail for two and a half years now. I can't say that this prison experience has been totally negative. Isolation has taught me to love people and freedom even more, to appreciate even more my loved ones, who have supported me all this time. So, I want to use my closing statement to thank the people who have supported me: my parents, my spouse, and all my close friends.
"I would like to underscore once more that I have never held terrorist views, neither t hen nor now. I am sorry for what I did, and I'm glad that my activities caused no actual harm to other people. I ask the court not to punish me harshly. That is all." Defendant Yuli Boyarshinov's closing statement was so short that artist Anna Tereshkina didn't have time to finish her sketch.
Filinkov's closing statement:
"The nine years in prison the prosecutor has requested are probably a token of respect for what I've been doing. This is what occurred to me about [Yegor] Zorin's testimony: five narcotic substances were found in his blood when he was examined, but only two narcotic substances were found on his person—MDMA and marijuana. Neither MDMA or marijuana was found in his blood, however, while the five substances that were found were other synthetic drugs. Due to my circumstances, I've had the opportunity to talk to drug lords, and they have told me that synthetic drugs are quickly flushed from the bloodstream, and if [Zorin] had used marijuana, it would have remained in his blood. I would guess that the FSB officers knew that Zorin was a drug user, so they planted MDMA and marijuana on his person, thinking they were popular drugs. But they guessed wrong: he was using neither the one nor the other. It's hard to believe that he drove around for a year [with these drugs on his person] and didn't use them, while using everything else in sight. In a situation like that, you have to have courage to turn yourself in.
"As for the other [suspects and defendants in the case] who confessed and testified—Yuli [Boyarshinov] and Igor [Shiskin]—they acted pragmatically. They didn't believe that any other outcome was possible. I understand them.
"I would like to mention everyone who has been exposed in this case. First of all were the Petersburg FSB, the Penza FSB, and the Interior Ministry [the regular police], which carried out the orders of FSB officers without hesitation, without asking any questions. Then there was the prosecutor's office, which has only been good for giving me the runaround and bringing in a colonel [as trial prosecutor] to read aloud from a piece of paper, refuse to respond to me, and ask the court to sentence me to nine years. I don't understand whether [the prosecutor's office] is independent or not. What happened to the ten years I was promised? The FSB officers promised to send me down for ten years. It is unclear whose initiative this is [to sentence Filinkov to nine years]. Is the prosecutor's office or the FSB behind it? It basically doesn't matter.
"Then there was the Investigative Committee, whose employees sent [Filinkov's complaints of torture] from one place to the next, losing all the evidence in the process. There were the employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service, who refused to document the injuries [suffered by Filinkov and other defendants when they were tortured by the FSB], who promised that video recordings would not be lost, but then it turned out they had been deleted. There were the courts that remanded us in custody and extended our arrests. There were the legislators who made up such laws. All of them have disgraced themselves. I don't know what the solution to this situation is. That is all."
The verdict in the case will be announced at 12:00 p.m. on June 22.
Viktor Filinkov's defense team: Yevgenia Kulakov and Vitaly Cherkasov
After the hearing, Filinkov's defense team, Vitaly Cherkasov and Yevgenia Kulakova, said that, during the closing arguments, the prosecutor cited documents that had not even been read out in court, which is forbidden by the criminal procedure code, and attributed statements to Filinkov that he had never made.
All illustrations by Anna Tereshkina, who writes, "Viktor Filinkov and Yuli Boyarshinov made their closing statements today, and before that Viktor took part in the closing arguments. His eloquent speech, which disarmed all the scoundrels, made an incredible impression. Everyone whom he listed really has disgraced themselves, and they stand before all of us dirty, confused, and unable to do anything about it." Thanks for Ms. Tereshkina's kind permission to reprint her drawings here. Translated by the Russian Reader
By hecksinductionhourin antifascism, art, petrograd, solidarity, youth, zeitgeist June 18, 2020 July 2, 2020 1,665 Words1 Comment


TV-Recaps-Reviews: Casting News - Amy Acker to Appear on 'Grey's Anatomy'; Ginnifer Goodwin Joins 'Why Women Kill'; Plus 3 More Updates!
Casting News - Amy Acker to Appear on 'Grey's Anatomy'; Ginnifer Goodwin Joins 'Why Women Kill'; Plus 3 More Updates!
ABC's Grey's Anatomy; Amazon's The Hunt; CBS All Access' Why Women Kill; Hulu's Dollface; and TNT's Claws.
Amy Acker has been tapped to play the long elusive fourth Shepherd sister in an upcoming episode of the drama's fifteenth season. She previously starred for three seasons in The WB's Angel, one season in ABC's Alias and four seasons in CBS' Person of Interest. She currently stars in FOX's The Gifted, which wraps its second season later this month.
She will play Kathleen Shepherd, Amelia's (Caterina Scorsone) sister and Meredith's (Ellen Pompeo) sister-in-law. After 15 seasons, she is the last member of the Shepherd family to be seen. Embeth Davidtz and Neve Campbell previously appeared as Derek's (former star Patrick Dempsey) sisters, Nancy and Lizzie. Meanwhile, Tyne Daly has played their mother, Carolyn.
Esther Povitsky will co-star on the upcoming comedy starring Kat Dennings. She was the co-creator and star of Freeform's Alone Together, which ran for two seasons. She has also had a major recurring role on The CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
She will play Izzy, who works with Jane (Dennings) at Woom and is desperate to be accepted by their co-workers.
Seana Kofoed has booked a recurring role on the dramedy's upcoming third season. She currently stars in Lifetime's upcoming drama American Princess, which premieres in June 2019.
She will play Gretch, a woman who outwardly resembles a watered-down version of Polly (Carrie Preston) but is much wilder than she looks at first glance.
Ginnifer Goodwin will play one of the three leads on the upcoming drama starring Lucy Liu. She previously starred for five seasons in HBO's Big Love and six seasons in ABC's Once Upon a Time. She next appears in episodes of the upcoming anthologies Dolly Parton's Heartstrings on Netflix and The Twilight Zone on CBS All Access.
She will play Beth Ann. Set in 1963, she wants to be the ideal '60s housewife. She is kind, cheerful and warm. But if you get too close, you start to see that she wears a mask to hide her pain. Her whole world revolves around her husband, and so she is understandably defensive and immediately in denial when told Rob is having an affair. Determined to learn the sordid details for herself, Beth Ann is in for a life-changing shift of perspective.
Carol Kane, Saul Rubinek, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Greg Austin and Dylan Baker will round out the main cast of the upcoming drama starring Al Pacino and Logan Lerman. Kane won an Emmy Award for her performance in NBC's Taxi and recently starred for four seasons in Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Rubinek starred for five seasons in Syfy's Warehouse 13. Changchien has recurred on Amazon's The Man in the High Castle and Showtime's Kidding. Austin starred in BBC America's one-season drama Class. Baker received three Emmy nominations for his guest performance on CBS' The Good Wife.


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Extending the Reach of the DC
By Bill McBeath Published on
Integrating logistics, all the way from the source plant through the DC onto the store shelf, reduces errors, exceptions and transit times.
Full Article Below -
Integrating Logistics from Factory to Shelf
Many have discussed the advantages of integrating management of inventory and replenishment across the retail supply chain, from the factory through the manufacturer's DC, the retailer's DC, all the way to the store shelf and POS (Point of Sale). But what about integrating logistics from the factory to the store shelf? That represents an opportunity for innovative and agile efficiency that I call 'extending the DC.' The concept of extending the DC evolved from an enlightening conversation I had on this topic with Diego Pantoja-Navajas, CEO and founder of LogFire, at the recent CSCMP conference in Philadelphia.
LogFire is a software development and supply chain execution company specializing in SaaS WMS. When their customers started asking if they could also manage inbound and outbound transportation and even putaway in the store, LogFire responded. When talking about extending the DC, it is instructive to look at automotive manufacturing plants where the best ones have very tight (15-minute) delivery windows for inbound trucks carrying the parts that feed the production lines. They are treating their inbound trucks almost as if they were conveyor belts feeding the lines in the factory. Retailers have been doing something similar, constantly trying to shorten delivery windows and transit times (receipt-to-ship time) through the warehouse/DC. This is especially true in cross-dock and flow-through operations, such as in grocery, where freshness is a concern. Even in other sectors, such as apparel or hard goods, additional speed and precision are being strived for.
Inbound—Starting with the Order
LogFire's WMS, which is easily configured to meet user needs, is one of the most advanced in the industry. Though the flow of products to and through the DC begins at the factory, LogFire's system starts even further back in the process by managing the sourcing processes: sending RFQs to potential suppliers, evaluating responses, selecting suppliers, and then issuing POs specifying precise quantities and delivery times. The order thus becomes the basis for managing shipments from suppliers' factories.
LogFire's system has portals for the supplier (shipper), carriers, consolidators, and deconsolidators. The information for the order is already in the system and each of the participants simply adds their piece of new information about the disposition of the shipment against the order. This creates more visibility, control, and automation of the end-to-end process. For example, once a container is on the water you can plan your deconsolidation. An ASN is automatically sent, triggering a dock appointment request at the DC. There is now a flow of information between all the participants in the inbound process from factory door to DC door. This reduces errors and creates opportunities for streamlining operations and improving efficiencies. With this increased inbound visibility, you have high confidence that the product will arrive in the allotted receiving window, enabling the cross dock or flow-though DC to run more smoothly with fewer exceptions and delays.
Outbound is only as good as the receiving process. For a flow-through facility, if you have good, timely information about what is being received, then things flow smoothly and you can reduce average transit times. By extending the reach of the system to include delivery confirmation at the store, you can close the loop all the way from factory/source to delivery at store. LogFire's system also supports home delivery with confirmation. And if returns are needed from the store, such as damaged or excess merchandise, the entire process is simpler and more reliable because you are using the same system being used to run the DC. The information is already in place.
In the Store
LogFire can manage receiving at the store, performing all the checks and balances. Once received and in the back store, the system can trigger putaway to the sales floor, using the same basic technology used for putaway in the DC. Locations can be as specific as desired, down to individual shelf-location-level on the sales floor and in the back store. It is straightforward also to pick from back store locations and send to a customer loading location, for example when ordering a TV or other large items.
Using the same system for ordering, inbound, DC, outbound and store, provides traceability of products within one system. This helps tremendously in many areas that are traditionally challenging, such as reverse logistics—the system simply creates an ASN for items being returned into the warehouse. The number of integration points required between systems is dramatically reduced, as are maintenance, support, and training efforts.
SaaS Development Advantage
While we have written much about the advantages of SaaS with regard to speed of implementation, flexibility, and aligning solution provider incentives with end user goals, the LogFire story adds another angle to the 'SaaS Advantage.' LogFire started out as a WMS vendor. As a SaaS vendor, it was easy to incrementally extend their solution bit-by-bit to fulfill customer requirements as those needs became apparent. Instead of having to build or acquire a separate TMS module, LogFire has selectively implemented the inbound, outbound, and now store logistics functions, that were the highest priority for their customers. These become simply an extension of their existing system, rather than whole new modules. Through this, they have successfully extended the reach of the warehouse/DC to go end-to-end from factory to shelf. That has provided their customers with important new value via more granular, timely, accurate visibility, enabling more streamlined and optimized logistics processes.
To view other articles from this issue of the brief, click here.
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I say mix it up and try different flavors, its really yummy!
Bake cake according to package directions. While cake is cooling in its pan, poke holes all over with large fork. Mix jello according to package directions. Drizzle jello liquid over cake. Make sure jello penetrates all holes. Chill overnight. Frost chilled cake with whipped topping. Serve.
Thanks Angie from Frugal Mom's Talk radio for mentioning this cake, Ive always wanted to try it.
In a large deep skillet, brown meat until no longer pink. Drain fat, if necessary. Add the olive oil, peppers, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook on medium-high heat. Saute until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Add chili powder and cumin. Add the can of tomatoes, breaking up the whole tomatoes with a spoon, but still leaving big chunks. Add sour cream, stir until mixed. Add pasta. Cover and cook until pasta is al dente, about 25 minutes. Make sure to stir frequently so the pasta doesn't get stuck to the bottom. Serve with the cheddar cheese and cilantro sprinkled on top.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes. Check to make sure center is semi firm.