When I was in Russia I spoke to a few people about their interactions with the KGB and it is FUCKING SCARY to know that post-Soviet interrogation practices are more-or-less the same.
On May 15, the young contemporary artist Artem Loskutov was arrested in his native Novisibirsk and charged with possession of a narcotic substance (marijuana) by the local branch of the Interior Ministry’s notorious Center for Extremism Prevention (Center “E”). Loskutov and his supporters claim that the police planted the marijuana in his bag in order to incriminate him. As one of the inspirations behind the annual “Monstration”—a flash-mob street party in which young people march with absurdist, non-political slogans—Loskutov had long been an object of the Center’s attentions. At a pre-trial custody hearing on May 20, it was revealed that the Center had been tapping the phones of Loskutov and his friends for the past six months. In April and on May Day itself, Loskutov had been summoned to the Center for “discussions”; his parents had also been called and told that their son was a member of a dangerous sect. The circumstances of the case and the way that he was arrested thus point to a campaign of intimidation directed both at Loskutov and his fellow free-thinking “monstrators” in Novosibirsk.
"Judge: This person is guilty!
Fighting for increased wages - guilty!
Not loving the police - guilty!
For the inclination towards critical thought - wanted!
Cosmopolite. Internationalist. Atheist. Extremist. Are there any such people among you? Are any of you extremists???"
http://www.metamute.org/en/free_artem_loskutov
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