Kansk affair

In early June 2020, in the Russian Siberian city of Kansk, three 14-year-old boys were putting up political protest posters calling for the freedom of a jailed Moscow State University mathematics PhD student and anarchist political activist Azat Miftakhov. They had placed some of the posters on the outer wall of the local Federal Security Service building. The FSB tracked down the boys and detained them on June 6, 2020.{{cite news|url=https://theins.ru/obshestvo/238887|work=The Insider|title="Мама, тебе нравится так жить?" За что 14-летних подростков обвиняют в терроризме|author=Eugenia Tamarchenko|date=2021-01-28|access-date=2021-02-21}}

When the boys were initially detained on June 6, the FSB agents confiscated their phones, briefly questioned them and let them go. After searching the boys' phones more carefully and discovering a great deal of "unflattering" to FSB material there, the FSB summoned the boys the following day and interrogated them at length.

Two of the boys, Denis Mikhailenko and Bogdan Andreyev, admitted their guilt and were released under house arrest. The third boy, Nikita Uvarov, refused to admit guilt, and was jailed pending further investigation.

The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case against all three boys who were charged with training for terrorist activity{{cite news|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/11/23/88072-po-retseptu-che-gevary|work=Novaya Gazeta|title="По рецепту Че Гевары"|author=Alexei Tarasov|date=2020-11-23|access-date=2021-02-21}} with the goal of changing "the existing state and political structure in the Russian Federation".{{cite news|work=MediaZona|url=https://zona.media/news/2021/03/10/kansk|title=На подростков из Канска завели дела о хранении и изготовлении взрывчатки|date=2021-03-10|access-date=2021-03-12}} In November 2020, the criminal charges were upgraded to organizing a terror group.{{cite news|url=https://dela.ru/lenta/264190/|work=Dela.ru|title=Канских подростков обвиняют в организации террористической группы|date=2020-11-21|access-date=2021-02-21}}

The prosecutors discovered that the boys had engaged in backyard chemical experiments, with their parents' knowledge, including making a saltpeter smoke device and an improvised Molotov cocktail. They also discussed anarchism and anti-government activism on social media sites Vkontakte and Telegram, including discussing the writings of Peter Kropotkin, the songs of Kurt Cobain and Yegor Letov and of the yellow vests movement in France.{{cite news|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/02/25/89365-relsotron-zhahnul|work=Novaya Gazeta|author=Alexei Tarasov|title=Рельсотрон жахнул. Дело сибирских подростков-анархистов, обвиняемых в терроризме: роль школы, провокатор, тайный свидетель, наживка|date=2021-02-25|access-date=2021-02-26}} The boys and their families dispute the authenticity of some of the group chat messages whose screenshots, displayed on the boys' confiscated phones, the FSB sources provided to the media.{{cite news|work=nsg24.ru|url=https://ngs24.ru/text/incidents/2020/11/24/69569443/|title="Надо было увидеть злодеев в дурачках?": что известно о деле канских школьников|date=2020-11-24|access-date=2021-02-22}}

A prominent piece of government evidence in the case is the boys' video game Minecraft, where they created a virtual FSB building which they were blowing up in the game. {{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/russian-boys-accused-over-minecraft-video-game-j0df8jmct|work=The Times|title=Russian boys accused over Minecraft video game|author=Marc Bennetts|date=2020-12-08|access-date=2021-02-21}}

In November 2020, Denis Mikhailenko was transferred from the home arrest to pretrial detention in prison after the authorities accused him of violating the prohibition on using the internet.

Nikita Uvarov remained imprisoned in pretrial detention since his initial arrest in June 2020. In February 2021, a court in Kansk extended his pretrial prison detention to at least April 8, 2021. In justifying its decision, the court cited testimony from the headmaster of Nikita's school who stated that Nikita "perceives the school as a hostile environment."{{cite news|url=https://news.ebene-magazine.com/ebene-magazine-schoolchildren-who-wanted-to-blow-up-the-fsb-building-in-minecraft-the-arrest-period-was-extended-due-to-the-directors-characteristics-ru/|title=Schoolchildren who wanted to blow up the FSB building in Minecraft, the arrest period was extended due to the director's characteristics|work=Ebene magazine|date=2021-02-07|access-date=2021-02-21}} {{cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2021/05/07/generation-navalny-etre-jeune-et-rebelle-en-siberie-sous-poutine_6079409_4500055.html|work=Le Monde|title=Génération Navalny: être jeune et rebelle en Sibérie sous Poutine|author=Benoît Vitkine|date=2021-05-07|access-date=2021-05-09}} The detention terms for Denis Mikhailenko and Bogdan Andreyev (home confinement for Andreyev and pretrial imprisonment for Mikhailenko) were similarly extended.{{cite news|url=https://vgtimes.ru/news/74722-shkolnikam-kotorye-hoteli-vzorvat-zdanie-fsb-v-minecraft-prodlili-srok-aresta-iz-za-harakteristiki-direktora.html|work=VGTimes.ru|title=Школьникам, которые хотели взорвать здание ФСБ в Minecraft, продлили срок ареста из-за характеристики директора|date=2021-02-07|access-date=2021-02-21}}

The boys are facing up to 10 years in prison on the current charges.{{cite news|url=https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/three-russian-teenagers-face-prison-on-terror-charges-related-to-playing-video-game-minecraft-heres-what-happened/ar-BB1bMjh8|work=msn.com|title=Three Russian teenagers face prison on terror charges related to playing video game Minecraft - here's what happened|author=Ethan Shone|date=2020-12-09|access-date=2021-02-21}}

On March 9, 2021, Novaya Gazeta reported that the Investigative Committee of Russia dropped the more serious criminal charge against the three boys, added in November 2020, of organizing a terror group, because of the absence of the necessary elements of the crime. However, the original charge against the boys, filed in June 2020, of training for a terrorist activity, remains in force.{{cite news|work=Novaya Gazeta|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/03/09/zabralo-sorvalo|title=Забрало сорвало. Дело о террористическом сообществе канских подростков развалилось и прекращено|author=Alexei Tarasov|date=2021-03-09|access-date=2021-03-09}} The following day, March 10, 2021, the media reported that the prosecution added new criminal charges against the boys: four counts of manufacturing and three counts of storing explosive materials.{{cite news|work=Novaya Gazeta|title=СК сообщил о новых эпизодах в деле против канских подростков|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/03/10/protiv-trekh-podrostkov-iz-kanska-zaveli-ugolovnye-dela-o-khranenii-i-izgotovlenii-vzryvchatki|date=2021-03-10|access-date=2021-03-10}}

Two of the boys, who provided confessions during their initial June 2020 arrest, refused to answer the investigators' further questions in March 2021.{{cite news|work=Novaya Gazeta|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/03/23/glinianyi-pulemet|title=Глиняный пулемет. СК разошелся в оценках с экспертами ФСБ и предъявил канским подросткам окончательные обвинения|author=Alexei Tarasov|date=2021-03-23|access-date=2021-03-24}}

On May 4, 2021, Nikita Uvarov was released from prison, after a Krasnoyarsk Krai court found his continued pretrial confinement illegal. The criminal charges against him remain pending.{{cite news|url=https://tvk6.ru/publications/news/58294/|work=tvk6.ru|title=Фигуранта «дела канских подростков» освободили из СИЗО|date=2021-05-04|access-date=2021-05-04}}

On August 4, 2021, a court trial of the three Kansk teens started in Kansk. They are being tried not in a civilian court but by the 1-st Eastern Military District Court.{{cite news|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/08/04/ivan-ilich-prozhil-dovolno-bessmyslennuiu-zhizn|work=Novaya Gazeta|title=«Иван Ильич прожил довольно бессмысленную жизнь»|author=Alexei Tarasov|date=2021-08-04|access-date=2021-08-06}}

On February 10, 2022, Nikita Uvarov, 16, was sentenced to five years in a penal colony by a military court in Siberia on charges of "terrorist training." Due to their cooperation with investigators, two other defendants were cleared of criminal charges and given suspended sentences.{{Cite news|last=Presse|first=Agence France|date=February 10, 2022|title=Russian teenager jailed over ‘Minecraft plot to blow up virtual spy HQ’|pages=1|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/10/russian-teenager-nikita-uvarov-jailed-over-minecraft-plot-to-blow-up-virtual-spy-hq|access-date=February 11, 2022}}

In January 2023 the Supreme Court of Russia upheld the five year sentence against Nikita Uvarov.{{cite news|url=https://thecrimereport.org/2023/01/17/russian-supreme-court-reaffirms-five-year-sentence-for-teen-in-minecraft-digital-terrorism-case/|work=The Crime Report|title=Russian Supreme Court Reaffirms Five-Year Sentence For Teen in Minecraft ‘Digital Terrorism’ Case|date=January 17, 2023|access-date=August 15, 2023|publisher=John Jay College of Criminal Justice}}

Several Russian news outlets criticized the prosecution of the boys as cruel and excessive. A news and media site, Baza.io, ran an in-depth inverstigative story about the case "Kansk lions. How 14-year-old Siberian schoolchildren pasted leaflets on an FSB building and became terrorists."{{cite news| url=https://baza.io/posts/3413bb19-4467-42a4-86d7-0dee7baf641d|work=Baza.io|title=Канские львы. Как 14-летние сибирские школьники наклеили листовки на здание ФСБ и стали террористами|author=Igor Zalyubovin|date=2020-11-24|access-date=2021-02-21}} The newspaper Novaya Gazeta ran a series of stories criticizing the government's handling of the situation about the Kansk schoolchildren case{{cite news|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/02/04/89052-mama-spasibo-bolshoe-za-peredachu|work=Novaya Gazeta|title=Мама, спасибо большое за передачу |author=Alexei Tarasov|date=2021-02-04|access-date=2021-02-21}} {{cite news|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/06/17/85882-prichiny-i-sledstvennyy-komitet|work=Novaya Gazeta|title=Причины и Следственный комитет|author=Nikolai Scherbakov|date=2020-06-17|access-date=2021-02-21}} and likened the case to the treatment of children during Stalin's Great Purge in 1930s.

A report by the Novaya Gazeta pointed out that the evidence leaked by the authorities to the pro-government media as seized in the Kansk case actually came from a different case, made public several months earlier.

The news site Grani.ru characterized the FSB case against the three Kansk boys as "fabricated".{{cite news |publisher=Grani.ru |url=https://graniru.org/Politics/Russia/Politzeki/m.280415.html |title=В Красноярском крае ФСБ сфабриковала против трех школьников дело о терроризме |date=2020-11-20 |access-date=2021-02-21}} The original confessions of Mikhailenko and Andreyev were described in a report by a Russian RFE/RL affiliate as extracted "under pressure and threats".{{cite news |url=https://www.sibreal.org/a/31143510.html |publisher=sibreal.org |title=В Канске Следственный комитет возбудил новое дело на подростков из-за игры в Minecraft |date=2021-03-10 |access-date=2021-03-12}}

In March 2021, a leading Russian human rights organization, Memorial, classified the case against the three Kansk teens as political persecution. In August 2023, Memorial recognized Nikita Uvarov as a political prisoner. {{cite news|publisher=Kasparov.ru|title=В список политзаключенных внесли Никиту Уварова, задержанного в возрасте 14 лет|url=https://www1.kasparov.org/material.php?id=64D4771DBD792§ion_id=43452BE8655FB&subject_id=236|date=August 10, 2023|access-date=August 15, 2023}}

• Azat Miftakhov
• Tyumen case of anti-fascists

{{Reflist}}

• [http://kanskdelo.com ДЕЛО КАНСКИХ ПОДРОСТКОВ (The case of Kansk teens)]

• [https://memohrc.org/ru/special-projects/delo-kanskih-podrostkov Дело канских подростков], dossier at the Memorial website

Category:Human rights abuses in Russia

Category:Criminal cases in Russia

Category:Children's rights

Category:Anarchism in Russia

Category:Anti-anarchism