Defendant in the Network case Viktor Filinkov went on hunger strike in the colony

Viktor Filinkov, convicted in the criminal case on the terrorist community “Network”, went on a hunger strike in the colony, demanding the release of political prisoners. This was announced on October 30 by Filinkov’s lawyer. The hunger strike began on the day of remembrance for the victims of political repression, informs Telegram channel Rupression with reference to the convict’s lawyer Evgenia Kulakova.

Filinkov is serving a sentence in IK-1 in Orenburg. Since August 12, he has been periodically placed in a punishment cell for trumped-up reasons. For example, he allegedly did not greet the colony officer and refused to sweep the exercise yard. Convicted registered as “prone to systematic violation of house rules”. This is Filinkov’s third professional account. Previously, he was included in the lists of those who are prone to extremism and terrorism.

Two years ago, Filinkov, while still under investigation, also went on a hunger strike on the day of commemoration of victims of political repression. It lasted more than a month. November 5, 2019 arrested hospitalized to the Haas hospital in St. Petersburg. After that Filinkov ended his hunger strike. Then, in November 2019, went on a hunger strike defendants in the Network case Arman Sagynbaev, Dmitry Pchelintsev and Maxim Ivankin.

A criminal case on the so-called terrorist community “Network” was opened by the FSB in October 2017. Then, for a month in Penza, Yegor Zorin, Ilya Shakursky, Vasily Kuksov, Dmitry Pchelintsev and Andrei Chernov were detained. Arman Sagynbaev was found in St. Petersburg, and the Penza residents Maxim Ivankin and Mikhail Kulkov were later detained in Moscow. Also, three Petersburgers were detained in the case: Viktor Filinkov, Igor Shishkin and Yulia Boyarshinov. Most of the detainees are anarchists and anti-fascists, who were also fond of airsoft. According to the investigation, young people have created a network community with the aim of committing terrorist attacks, preparing for revolution and civil war.

According to the FSB, no later than May 2015, the person involved in the case, Dmitry Pchelintsev, decided to unite anarchists and antifascists from different cities – Penza, St. Petersburg and Moscow – into “battle groups” to attack the security forces, attacks on government bodies, military registration and enlistment offices and branches of “United Russia” … Activists allegedly gathered in 2018 during the presidential elections and the World Cup with the help of explosions to “shake the masses to further destabilize the political situation in the country”, and then to raise an armed rebellion.

The defendants argued that the materials of the case were fabricated by the FSB, and that they gave confessions under torture. Programmer Viktor Filinkov and other defendants spoke in detail about the torture.

In February 2020, seven defendants in the Network case were sentenced to imprisonment for a term of six to 18 years. In the summer of the same year, Filinkov was sentenced. He received 7 years in prison.