A Moscow court yesterday denied bail to Azat Miftakhov on the charge, which has seemingly been brought because the State was unable to justify earlier terror-related allegations. Initially grabbed by police on suspicion of being a bomb-maker on February 1st, Azat was released a week later after a violent interrogation failed to make him confess, but immediately detained again on lesser charges. Azat, a graduate maths student at Moscow State University, was first arrested as part of a wave of raids related to the Network witch-hunt against anti-fascists and held in Balashika police station. He was searched and, along with other detainees, tortured with beatings and electric shocks. Supporters who had seen him before he was briefly “ghosted” from the facility reported that the attacks had been so bad that he “didn’t look like a human being”. The Public Monitoring Commission also reported that he had marks on his body consistent with torture. Defence lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina reported overhearing in court that Azat had attempted to slit his wrists to avoid further pain. However he did not sign any confession, forcing them to release him on Tuesday. The State seems intent on keeping the mathematics student in jail however, and the court in Moscow has ruled that he must now stay in pre-trial detention until March 7th.

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Pic: Azat, centre, in a selfie allegedly taken by the officers who tortured him.