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Russia: Antifascist Alen Volikov detained in Moscow in a probe into a 2011 brawl

(source: http://avtonom.org/en/news/russia-antifascist-alen-volikov-detained-moscow-probe-2011-brawl )

At about 10.30 p.m. on November 6, antifascist Alen Volikov, 23, and his
girlfriend were walking out of a shop in Moscow when police operatives, who
drove up in three cars, ran over to them. According to the woman, they
presented criminal police IDs and explained the detention by the fact that
Volikov is on a federal wanted list.


Most likely this explanation is not true, as the lawyers for the other
antifascists detained as part of the same criminal probe, Alexei Olesinov
and Alexei Sutuga, did not find any information about people who are on
wanted lists. It is likely that the federal wanted notice may be backdated,
which was the case with Olesinov's detention in February.

It seems likely that Alen Volikov may become the third suspect in the probe
into a brawl at Moscow's Vozdukh Club. To recap, during a punk gig in
mid-December 2011 some of the gig-goers had a quarrel but they quickly made
up. However, the venue's security guards, armed with non-lethal weapons,
became involved, the gig was stopped, and the club was emptied. At the
door, a brawl, which involved shooting from non-lethal weapons, started
between gig-goers and security guards who said they were nationalists. Two
people were injured.

Later, criminal proceedings were initiated, and two well-known antifascists
and social activists, Alexei Olesinov and Alexei Sutuga, were detained.
They were held in pre-trial detention for several months, but, as Novaya
Gazeta reported repeatedly, in all this time the investigators were unable
to present any proof of their guilt.

When interviewing witnesses in the Vozdukh brawl case, investigators
expressed interest in Volikov, and admitted that they view Alen as the main
participant in the fight.

Alen Volikov's friends and relatives do not know where he is at the moment,
and are afraid that police may attempt to beat self-incriminating and
false confessions out of the antifascist.

During the detention, Volikov's girlfriend was told that he would be taken
to Pyatnitskoye local department of the Interior Ministry. But there is no
such police station in Moscow, and Zamoskvorechye local department of the
Interior Ministry, which is located in Pyatnitskaya street, told Novaya
Gazeta that they do not have a detainee named Alen Volikov.

Posted in english language, ex-soviet region.

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