"We demand an investigation based on information about admissions of guilt of the Set* case convicts received under torture" - scientists, students, filmmakers, theater critics, booksellers and other professional communities have expressed their support for the convicted young people. President Putin is aware of the public reaction to the verdict to the defendants in the Penza case, the RIA Novosti newswire reported on February 18, citing the President's press secretary.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to press secretary Dmitry Peskov, is aware of the wave of support for the defendants. The Kremlin takes public response to the verdict into account, but calls for waiting for the results of the appeal.
Over the past few days, teachers and psychologists, students, research workers, filmmakers, theater critics, cartoonists, PMC members and human rights activists, journalists, and others have expressed support for the defendants in the Set* case. More than 16 publishing houses and bookstores across Russia and abroad closed for one day or donated money to the families of the convicts. A police officer came to Irina Rocheva, the owner of the bookstore in Tula, and demanded explanations.
The convicts were supported by famous rock musician Konstantin Kinchev (he dedicated a song to them at the concert) and the Pornofilmy band.
Sergei Mironov, the leader of the Fair Russia Party and the head of the same-named faction in the State Duma, called for an investigation and release of information in case the facts of torture are found — he appealed to the Supreme court and the Prosecutor General's Office with such requests. Mironov drew analogies with the case of Ivan Golunov when the journalist was saved from the arbitrariness of the security forces only by the reaction of society.
People are holding one-person pickets in support of activists across the country and abroad.
On February 10, the Privolzhsky District Military Court in Penza sentenced seven left-wing activists to prison terms ranging from 6 to 18 years. They were accused of creating a terrorist association called the Set* (‘Network’) which, according to investigators, was supposed to destabilize the situation in the country to change the regime. The main evidence in the case was their admissions which they denied later. According to the convicts, they were electrocuted. There was no investigation of tortures.
*Set (‘Network’) is an organization banned in Russia and declared to be terrorist.
