A Russian teenager, Arseny Turbin, will celebrate his seventeenth birthday in a juvenile correctional colony in the Perm region, where he has been sentenced to five years in custody.
He is accused of distributing anti-Putin leaflets in 2023, allegedly under the direction of handlers from the Freedom of Russia Legion—a group banned in Russia. However, the schoolboy admitted to distributing them but told the court he acted out of his personal convictions, not at someone else’s behest. The FSB also claims that Turbin completed a “questionnaire in Telegram” to join a terrorist organization and sent it through an unspecified method—a claim Arseny denies.
Human rights defenders from the group “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial,” after reviewing Turbin’s case, recognized him as a political prisoner:
The case against the minor Turbin is politically motivated and aimed at intimidating society as a whole.
It is often said in Russia that writing to political prisoners is merely symbolic, an empty gesture. But as many “prisoners of conscience” have said—and as Arseny’s mother confirms—letters from both loved ones and strangers help sustain them through the hardest days of confinement. We hope for active participation from residents of Perm Krai and all compassionate people.
Address for letters and cards to Arseny Turbin:
Турбину Арсению 19.08.2008 г.р.
Адрес: 614512, Пермский край, с. Гамово, ул. Свободы, д. 1, ФКУ Пермская воспитательная колония ГУФСИН России по Пермскому краю.
Please write letters, cards, and the address only in Russian.
Read more: The Arseny Turbin Case.