“They told me that if I didn’t become more cooperative, they could do whatever they wanted to me”: anarchist Arman Sagynbayev reveals torture by Russian law enforcement

Arman Sagynbayev. Source: personal archive.

Since October 2017, 11 people have arrested as part of “The Network” case in Russia — a terrorism investigation into anti-fascists and anarchists. According to investigators, these men were members of an organisation that planned to provoke the “further destabilisation of the political climate in the country” during the Russian presidential elections and Football World Cup. Cells of the organisation were allegedly operating in Moscow, St Petersburg, Penza and Belarus.