Anarchist Alexey Sutuga was arrested and remanded in Moscow - help needed

Alexey Sutuga, anarchist, anti-fascist and the member of "Autonomous Action" was arrested on Tuesday evening, April 17, in Moscow. It happened during fundraising effort in support of anti-fascists prisoners. It became aware almost after a day after arrest that Alexey is now in the remand prison number two which is also known as "Butyrka". The police accuse him of the same charges as anti-fascist Alexey Olesinov who has already been in custody for a month - complicity in the incident at the Moscow club "Vozdukh", on 17 December, 2011, when the Nazis working for the security attacked the guests of the concert and then blamed anti-fascists in this assault. Voluntary donations for the support of anti-fascists in detention, particularly of Alexey Olesinov and Igor Kharchenko, were gathered in the center of Moscow, on April 17.

The event was organized by activists of the anti-racist human rights initiative "Direct Help". About 15 people, including Alexey Sutuga, showed up. Two police officers came up to the group at 20.30, according to witnesses. They identified themselves and asked why there were too much garbage around the bench. After that the police began to ask all who was there at that time to show the documents. When people refused to show them, two plain clothes officials appeared instantly, out of nowhere and then about 5-6 of their colleagues showed up. One of them showed his card, muttered something like "the criminal investigation Department, guys", and said "get him!". Police officers obeyed him, took Alexey and led him off to the direction of highway.

 At the same moment all the people in plain clothes followed them, no longer pay any attention to the rest of the crowd, although they had promised to arrest all those who have no documents to the police station. Among those who arrested Alexey, there was a well-known Moscow FBI agent Evgeny Platov, better known as "Zhenya the FSB" (more about him and his pursuit of the Moscow anarchists you can read here:
http://avtonom.org/news/feisy-vs-anarkhisty-kak-boitsy-nevidimogo-foront... - in Russian language )

 It's worth noting that a group of anarchists, including Alexey, had been detained a week earlier by the same plain clothes officers, but they were released without any charges.

 Sutuga's family and friends didn't know about his whereabouts for almost 24 hours. He didn't answer the phone. The information about his whereabouts was only released in the evening, April 18. It was reported that he is in "Butyrka" and, apparently, Basmanny district court quickly sanctioned pre-trial detention of the anti-fascists.

 He is charged with "hooliganism" (Article 213, Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code). The press service of the Moscow police reported that Alexey Sutuga is charged in connection with the same case as Alexey Olesinov.

 Recently it became aware of an attempt of fabricating a second criminal case on Olesinov: on April 17 police presented him a a young man who claims to have been attacked by Alexey on December 4th, 2011, though at this day Olesinov was posting articles on the Internet. (for more details: http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/26512/index.php - in Russian).

 "The case against the well-known anti-fascist Alexey Olesinov, now remanded, has been investigated for several months and is now collapsing. It seems like the human rights campaign in support of Olesinov began to irritate the police. If they had something against Sutuga, then they would have followed the legal procedures for this case. And it turns out that they have just arrested a person and kept him almost a whole day incommunicado. It looks like the policemen have a rich imagination"- commented a participant of " Autonomous Action".

 For more information about the incident in club "Vozdukh", see here:https://avtonom.org/en/people/aleksei-olesinov For other persecutions of anarchists and anti-fascists in Moscow, see here: https://avtonom.org/en/people/antti-rautiainen, http://anarcho-news.info/news-534 (in Russian)

Currently funds are urgently needed for legal costs of Sutuga. You may donate through Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow, instructions are available here: http://wiki.avtonom.org/en/index.php/Donate

The anti-war statement by an anarchist. Reasons for refusal to serve in the army

Мы продолжаем следить за судьбой израильского анархиста Игаля Левина – бывшего офицера, а ныне сознательного отказника по идеологическим мотивам. Уже более месяца он считается дезертиром, в ближайшие время ему грозит суд. Ниже публикуется его открытое письмо государственным структурам Израиля, где он объясняет свое решение не продолжать службу в рядах армии.

Также хотелось бы отметить что в настоящее время Игаль не является единственным сознательным отказником в Израиле. Мы призываем оказать всяческую информационную и моральную поддержку ему и всем тем другим кто не желает становится марионетками в руках буржуазных политиков, не желает убивать и умирать за их интересы.

Я, Игаль Левин (или по официальным документам, Игорь Бакал, лейтенант запаса, личный номер: 7714506), заявляю, что я отказываюсь продолжать мою дальнейшую службу в рядах Израильской армии.

Причинами моего отказа являются:

1. Ложь, которую форсирует официальная пропаганда Израильской армии и государство Израиль. Принято считать Израильскую армию народной армией, которая состоит из народа, и защищает народ.

Это же мнение навязывается и новобранцем после их принудительного призыва (что уже идет в разрез с принципами подлинно народной армии) в армию и сопровождает их на протяжении двух или трех лет службы. На деле же Израильская армия является простой буржуазной армией — инструментом в руках кучки людей, которым наплевать на мнение народа, т.е. людей, живущих под их властью и на ближнем востоке. Это даже и не скрывается официальной пропагандой. На протяжении службы солдатам говорят, что они (армия) инструмент в руках властей (государства) и не должны думать, должны только действовать и выполнять приказы. И эта армия называет себя народной? Бездушный инструмент?

2. Не желание иметь какую-либо связь с орг. структурами и институтами государства. Государство не является ни обществом, ни народом. Институты государства это клещ на «теле» народа. Оно калечит и уродует общество. Государство антинародно, а так как Израильская армия — инструмент в руках государства, то и она является таким же антинародным элементом.

Исходя из вышесказанного, я вижу продолжение моей военной службы не этичным и антинародным. Не желая оставаться инструментом, предателем народа и лицемером, я прекращаю свое какое-либо участие в рядах Израильской армии.

Игаль Левин

English ver.
I, Yigal Levin (or Igor Bakal, reserves Lieutenant, military id number 7714506, as the official documents have it), herby declare my refusal to continue my service in the ranks of the Israeli army.

The reasons for my refusal are the following:

1. The lies, promoted by the Israeli military’s official propaganda and by the State of Israel. The Israeli army is commonly considered to be “the people’s army”, an army of the people protecting the people. The same view is also imposed upon newly minted conscripts, after their forced recruitment (which already contradicts the principles of a truly popular armed force), for the two or three years of their conscription term. But in fact, the Israeli army is simply a bourgeois army – a tool in the hands of a small clique, which does not give a damn about what the people, i.e. all those living in the part of the Middle East under its control, think. The official propaganda does not even try to hide this. In the course of their military service, soldiers are told that they (the army) are a tool in the hands of those in power (the state) and therefore they should not think for themselves, but only act in compliance with the orders they are given. And this army, this inanimate instrument, calls itself a people’s army?

2. Unwillingness to collaborate with the organizational structures and the institutions of the state. The state cannot be identified with society or with the people. State institutions are a tick on the “body” of the people. It mutilates and deforms society. And as the Israeli military is a tool in the hands of the state, it similarly works against the people’s interests.

In view of the above, I consider my continued service in the military to be immoral. Not willing to remain a mere tool, a traitor, and a hypocrite, I decided to terminate my participation in it.

Yigal Levin