The police van which took away Yelena Gorban, who was later released. Source: Maxim Papkov / OVD-Info.On 31 January 2018, unknown persons conducted a protest action outside a United Russia office in a Moscow suburb. During the protest, a window was broken and a smoke grenade tossed inside the office. Yelena Gorban and Alexey Kobaidze were arrested on 14 February on vandalism charges. On 14 March, Svyatoslav Rechkalov was detained at his home in Moscow. As Rechkalov stated to members of the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission, he was tortured in the process.
As part of our coverage of the torture campaign against Russian anti-fascists, we publish a statement by Rechkalov below.
“Over the past year, the anarchist movement in Russia has become more active”
On 14 March, between six and seven in the morning, armed police burst into my apartment. I woke up from the terrible noise — someone was trying to break down my door. A minute later, the door was down, and I was face down on the floor with police officers armed to the teeth.
