Khimki hostage released in Russia

KHIMKI hostage Alexei Gaskarov has been released from police custody by a Russian municipal court.

On July 28 this year more than two hundred young antifascists and anarchists carried out a spontaneous demonstration outside the town administration building in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow.

They were protesting in defence of the Khimki Forest, under threat from plans for a toll motorway.

The demonstration, during which several windows were broken, received a great deal of public attention.

The authorities responded with a wave of repression. The day after the demonstration, two well-known social activists, Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov, were arrested.

A statement on October 22 posted on Infoshop news says: "Judge Svetlana Galanova made the decision to release Gaskarov on his own recognizance, ignoring an appeal from the prosecution to leave him in police custody.

"Alexei reacted by saying that he had not expected this decision because he has no faith in the Russian justice system.

"The prosecution presented no new arguments to support its request to keep Gaskarov in police custody, with the exception of a report issued by the FSB.

"The report states that Alexei Gaskarov has been a member of the Antifa IYA (apparently, 'informal youth association') since 2007; that he has extensive contacts, including with foreign countries, which is corroborated by his multiple trips abroad; that he has participated in and organized unsanctioned protest actions; and that the last time he was detained was on March 20, 2010, during the Day of Rage protest action.

"In his testimony, Alexei stated that antifascism is not a crime, that his antifascist views cannot be cause to place him under arrest, and that his trips abroad are his own personal affair.

"Gaskarov told the court that he was present at the March 20 Day of Rage protest in his capacity as a correspondent for the Institute for Collective Action (IKD) and that after his arrest he had been acquitted of all charges by a justice of the peace.

"Gaskarov had likewise traveled to Khimki on July 28 as an IKD correspondent, which was confirmed in a letter submitted by the institute’s directors.

"Civil rights activist Lev Ponomaryov, who participated in the hearing as a counsel for the defense, likewise voiced his bewilderment over the fact that the prosecution had portrayed antifascist convictions as a negative character factor, whereas in reality society should be proud of such people because they protect it from fascism.

"According to Ponomaryov, it is a very good thing that such people are resolute in their convictions.

"The court heard testimony from Andrei Demidov, deputy director of the Institute for Collective Action. Demidov confirmed that Gaskarov had been dispatched to Khimki as an IKD correspondent.

"Georgy Semyonovsky, Gaskarov’s lawyer, reminded the court that five well-respected citizens — Lev Ponomaryov, executive director of the For Human Rights movement; civil rights activist Sergei Kovalyov and Liudmila Alexeeva; and State Duma deputies Ilya Ponomaryov and Oleg Shein – had agreed to vouch for his client’s reliability.

"On October 18, the Khimki Municipal Court likewise released Maxim Solopov from police custody on his own recognizance. Like Gaskarov, Solopov has been charged with disorderly conduct for his alleged participation in a protest action outside the Khimki town hall.

"The Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages congratulates Maxim Solopov and Alexei Gaskarov on their conditional release from police custody, but believes that it has not achieved its goals and intends to keep fighting until all charges against them have been dropped.

For more information, contact:

Tel: +7 915-053-5912
Email: info@khimkibattle.org
Website: http://khimkibattle.org"

Global protests for Khimki hostages

PROTESTS have been held all over the world calling for the Khimki hostages to be released.

Events in support of Gaskarov and Solopov were also held in St Petersburg, Moscow (pictured), Irkutsk, Tyumen, Kaliningrad, Kiev, London, Paris, Dusseldorf, Stockholm, New York and Seattle, among other cities.

The St Petersburg Times report explains the two activists were imprisoned after an anarchists’ protest in front of the headquarters of the Khimki administration, which is instrumental in destroying the Khimki Forest to make way for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin-backed toll highway project to connect Moscow and St. Petersburg.

On Sunday, an estimated 150 St. Petersburg anarchists, Antifa activists, environmentalists and residents gathered to demand the release of Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov, who were arrested a day after the much-talked-about July 28 demonstration in Khimki in which several hundred participants firing pellet guns and setting off flares left graffiti on the walls of the administration building and broke several windows.

The protest in Khimki was a surprise for the authorities, who have deployed massive police forces to the forest, where preservationists held a vigil to put pressure on them.

The few police patrols at the scene drove away, apparently discouraged by the number of protesters, and did not detain anyone.

Gaskarov and Solopov, high-profile Antifa activists, were detained in Moscow a day after the July 28 rally in what their fellow activists describe as an act of revenge.

Their guilt has not been proven. Charged with disorderly behavior, they face up to seven years in prison.

"It’s not that they were targeted by chance; they were targeted deliberately, because they were anti-fascist movement activists who did not hide their faces, appearing constantly on television, at rallies and other social events,” said Dmitry, an activist with Autonomous Action and an organizer of the St. Petersburg rally. He asked for his last name to be withheld.

Because the police failed to detain anybody during the demo when the Khimki administration building was damaged, they wanted to arrest somebody as a scapegoat,” he said.

“They were there, but the police are trying to present them as the event’s organizers. It’s not clear why they’ve been held in prison for two months; nobody gets put in pre-trial custody on charges of disorderly behavior.”

Gaskarov and Solopov are not allowed to see their relatives, Dmitry said, adding that the police investigation has been declared “closed,” forcing the activists’ first lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin to resign over the investigators’ demand that he sign a written oath promising not to speak about the case.

“Trepashkin had to resign in order to help the public campaign for their release,” Dmitry said.

Activists say that the rally in which the administration building in Khimki was damaged was held when they felt that all other measures taken to save the forest during the three-year struggle had proved ineffective in stopping construction.

“There has been a struggle which lasted for three years against the corruptors, the crooks who were destroying the Khimki Forest, but it didn’t yield any result — quite the opposite, several ecologists and journalists have suffered, such as Mikhail Beketov who has been left permanently crippled after an attack on him, while the OMON special task police and neo-Nazis have been deployed against the environmentalists,” Dmitry said.

“Having tried all methods, there were people who decided that they must show their strength, if the authorities can’t understand any other language.”

The campaign’s rallies were held between Sept. 17 and 20 in anticipation of a court hearing on the activists’ case due later this month.

“A wave of repressions against anti-fascists has begun,” Dmitry said.

“Several people are on a federal wanted list and have had to go into hiding or leave the country, while all the young people who participated in the rallies and were included in the Center E databases (Center for the Prevention of Extremism) have been visited by uniformed and plainclothes men.”

Dmitry said that several activists were beaten and injured during interrogations in Moscow and the Moscow Oblast. “The campaign is also against the repressions that are raging now, mostly in Moscow,” he said.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to construction of the Khimki highway on Aug. 26, after a substantial portion of the forest had already been cut down. Tree-felling could be resumed at any moment.

Information about the campaign is available in several languages at www.khimkibattle.org.

London protest for Khimki

A PROTEST is to be held in London as part of the global solidarity campaign over the battle to protect Khimki Forest.

Says a posting on Indymedia: "A picket of the Russian Embassy in London is to be held on Monday September 20th.

"The protest is part of a series of international actions in defence of the Khimki hostages. These are two grassroots antifascist activists (Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov) who are currently in custody in Moscow on fabricated charges facing the prospect of very heavy prison sentences.

" "The campaign they are part of put a temporary halt to construction of a planned Moscow-Petersburg toll highway through the Khimki Forest.

"In essence, they have been taken hostage by local authorities and police officials. If they are tried and convicted they could face seven years in prison.

"Meanwhile, police and other law enforcement agencies continue their hunt against other activists, especially those with connections to the antifascist movement.

"Over the past three years, forest defenders have suffered numerous arrests and other forms of harassment by local police, as well as physical attacks carried out by 'anonymous' hired thugs, including neo-Nazis.

"These actions by the Khimki administration and its partners are explained by the significant commercial interest they have in seeing that the highway construction project is completed.

"The next pre-trial detention hearing for the two young men is scheduled for late September. International Days of Action are taking place to demand their release.

" Our main slogans are Freedom for Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov! and End the Persecution of Forest Defenders and Antifascists!

For more details, go to the Khimki Battle website.

Picket the Russian Embassy, 13 Kensington Palace Gardens, from 5.45pm, Monday 20th September. High St Ken tube. Banners and placards welcome.

Release the Khimki hostages!

A CALL has gone out for international solidarity with the defenders of Khimki Forest in Russia.

On July 28 this year more than two hundred young antifascists and anarchists carried out a spontaneous demonstration outside the town administration building in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow.

They were protesting in defence of the Khimki Forest, under threat from plans for a toll motorway.

The demonstration, during which several windows were broken, received a great deal of public attention.

The authorities responded with a wave of repression. The day after the demonstration, two well-known social activists, Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov, were arrested.

They are now threatened with up to seven years in prison for disorderly conduct, although there is no evidence of their complicity in illegal activities.

Meanwhile, the police continue to hunt down and harass other activists, especially those involved in the antifascist movement.

Says the Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages: "After the July 28 demonstration, the Russian police and secret services unleashed an unprecedented dragnet against antifascists.

"People who had even just once come to the attention of the Centre for Extremism Prevention and FSB for their involvement with the antifascist movement have been forcibly taken in for questioning.

"In several cases they have been subjected to harsh physical coercion in order to compel them to give the testimony required by investigators.

"In addition, illegal searches have been carried out in their apartments. All these actions on the part of law enforcement authorities are violations of Russian and international law.

"Frightened by the numerous and growing protests against the clear-cutting of the Khimki Forest, the authorities have finally made concessions by agreeing to review the advisability of the planned route for the toll highway. But this does not mean victory.

"Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov are still in police custody for no reason at all. They are hostages of the authorities.

"In late September, the next hearing in their case will take place. The judge will decide whether to keep them in police custody pending completion of the investigation and trial.

"Everyone who cares about the fate of these two young men must do everything in their power to see that they are set free. The Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages calls on people around the world to organize days of action on September 17, 18, 19, and 20 to pressure the Russian authorities to release Alexei and Maxim.

"We ask you to hold protests outside of Russian Federation embassies, consulates, trade missions, and cultural centers, as well as at public events and concerts connected to Russia.

"We also ask you to send faxes, e-mails, and protest letters to the court, the prosecutor’s office, and the country’s political leadership. In the very near future we will inform you of addresses where you can send these protests as well as more details about the ongoing repressions in Russia. "

Russian anarchists attack town hall to save forest

RUSSIAN anarchists stormed a town hall in the latest battle in a longstanding war to protect Khimki forest from a motorway.

In dramatic scenes, they pelted it with smoke grenades and fireworks and painted slogans on the walls.

The Moscow Times says the attack "left the building with broken windows and covered in graffiti reading 'Save the Russian Forest', according to Antifa.ru, a web site for anarchists and anti-fascists.

"No one was injured because the staff had left for the day, the Khimki administration said in a statement, adding that the building suffered “considerable damage,” particularly to an art gallery it housed.

"Security guards present in the building did not resist the assailants, whose number was put at 300 by Antifa.ru."

Police described the incident as 'an insolent bandit attack'. A report on Infoshop says local residents supported the protesters' actions.

Campaigners point out on an Aljazeera video that the motorway could run next to the existing railway line, but was being deliberately rerouted through the forest in order to open up land for commercial development.