Russian anti-fascist says he was tortured by police for two days to elicit a terrorism confession

Nikita Oleynik, anti-fascist and a person of interest in the so-called Tyumen case, has revealed that law enforcement agents tortured him for two days to elicit a confession, Oleynik’s lawyer published his answers online.

Six Russian anti-fascists and anarchists, including Oleynik, were arrested in the cities of Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, and Surgut on 6 September; they are accused of creating a terrorist community and being part of it.

The anti-fascist said that the agents had come to his home late at night on 31 August, beat him up, seized “everything they liked”, and planted a package that the case materials later claimed contained saltpetre.

Oleynik was later taken to a minibus with the Russian National Guard emblem, he had a plastic bag over his head tightly scotch taped, and later he was taken to an unknown location.

The man was driven to a place that resembled “a garage or a hangar”. He was then tortured. The agents demanded that he “confess to everything” and were threatening him with targeting his family.

Oleynik remembers.

He clarified that when his ordeal came to an end, he signed some papers. After that the man was taken to another place to a person who introduced himself as an investigator.

“[The investigator] told me that what happened to me can happen with no end, they were not rushing anywhere. He was imposing on me a version of events that they needed, naming my friends and telling me that they were involving in making explosives,” Oleynik said.

After they got “everything they needed”, Oleynik was left sitting on a chair for about 10 hours and then driven from Surgut to Tyumen for about 12 hours. The bag was left on his head this whole time.

In Tyumen, he was taken to a place where he was beaten again:

According to Oleynik, the bag and scotch tape were taken off only after his confession.

On 6 September, it emerged that six anti-fascists and anarchists, Kirill Brik, Deniz Aydyn, Daniil Chertykov, Nikita Oleynik, Roman Pailin, and Yuri Neznamov, were arrested in Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, and Surgut.

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According to the investigation, Oleynik established a “terrorist organisation” which allegedly plotted to bomb a thermal power plant in Tyumen. The organisation allegedly included all the arrested people.

Oleynik was charged with establishing a terrorist group and accused of doing it out of “hatred for the current state regime”. He is facing either 15-20 years behind bars or life in prison.

All persons of interest in the case reported torture and filed complaints with law enforcement agencies.