In Russian penal colonies, political prisoners are increasingly facing new criminal charges while already serving their sentences. In recent weeks, at least two such cases have become public: new proceedings were opened against Arseny Turbin and Nikita Uvarov.
Turbin, who is serving a five-year sentence for anti-war leaflets, is now accused of taking part in mass riots. According to his support group, authorities had also tried in December to link him to AUE, but no case was opened at that time. A source connected to his support network said unrest had indeed occurred in the colony, but it remains unclear what specific actions are being attributed to him.
Uvarov was due to be released on March 19, but in mid-February he was transferred from the colony to a pre-trial detention center. He is now suspected of ties to AUE. He had previously spent five years in prison in the case of the Kansk teenagers, where one element cited by investigators was a Minecraft scene showing an FSB building being destroyed.
“No such organization as AUE exists,” blogger Ivan Astashin said, adding that criminal subculture in prisons is often controlled by the administration itself.
Sources interviewed by the newspaper link these repeat prosecutions to prisoners’ refusal to admit guilt or cooperate with investigators. Similar patterns were cited in the cases of Azat Miftakhov, Aleksei Gorinov and Ilya Romanov, where fresh accusations were also built in part on testimony from other inmates.
According to OVD-Info, its database contains 41 people whose second prosecution began while they were already imprisoned, while four more are awaiting verdicts. Sergei Davidis of Memorial’s political prisoners support program and lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov said such cases may reflect both political pressure and a quota-driven system inside the security apparatus.