fuckyeahanarchistposters:

CrimethInc: Why the torture cases in Russia matter

Grisly news keeps coming in from Russia
about the activities of the Russian Federal Security Service—the FSB,
which is descended from the KGB. In account after account, anarchists and anti-fascists describe how the FSB kidnapped them, planted weapons in their cars, and used torture to force them to sign false confessions admitting to participating in an obviously invented terror network.

Why should we care about the Russian
torture cases, specifically? At first, it may strike people in the US
and Western Europe as yet another abstract tragedy, just one more call
for international solidarity with unfortunates in a faraway land. But
the stakes here are much more significant. What is taking place in
Russia is a nightmare scenario that could recur closer and closer to us
if we don’t take it seriously.

For decades now, the security agencies
of many different countries have repeatedly attempted to fabricate
national and international “terrorist conspiracies” in order to frame
anarchists. To date, all of these efforts have been embarrassing
failures. Now, the Russian secret police have introduced an innovation:
by kidnapping anarchists without warning, planting weapons in their
cars, and torturing them until they agree to sign forged “confessions,”
they hope to finally make charges of participating in a “terrorism
network” stick. If they succeed, we can expect to see other police
agencies across the world emulate their tactics.

In the following analysis, we will
review the history of this model of repression, explore the details of
the Russian torture cases, and outline how we can respond. The Appendix lists the details of the arrests and torture in chronological order and provides corroborating evidence of the reports herein.

We’ve also prepared posters expressing solidarity with those
targeted in this wave of repression. Please print them out and paste
them up to draw attention to this case.

PDF 1

PDF 2

PDF 3