The Izmailovsky Court in Moscow has decided to postpone the hearings in the case of the VKontakte public page Antifa United, related to the promotion of anti-fascist ideas and principles of equality. The reason for the postponement was the death of one of the accused, Matvey Ostrovsky, as reported by Novaya Gazeta.
The circumstances of the death remain unclear, and the official medical report has not yet been submitted to the court.
At the end of August, the aforementioned court began hearing the case against four anti-fascists accused of creating and participating in the "extremist community" Antifa United. According to law enforcement, the group had a social media page through which the accused allegedly recruited members, including minors, and planned hate crimes, including against law enforcement officers.
As reported by Mediazona, one of the defendants, anti-fascist Roman Chizhikov, wrote a confession after his detention and was placed under house arrest.
Another accused, Bogdan Yakimenko, was beaten with a stun gun during his detention in Rostov-on-Don. The investigation considers him the leader of Antifa United. Yakimenko had previously faced criminal charges following a 2020 incident in which he was attacked by a group of neo-Nazis.
The case also mentions anti-fascist Ilya Popov. Information about him, as well as about the deceased Ostrovsky, is extremely scarce.
According to Antifa.ru, Antifa United was originally a clothing brand aimed at popularizing anti-fascism among youth. It is likely that the brand's social media pages were interpreted by law enforcement as an "extremist community."