Political prisoners Murnev and Dudchenko faced censorship in Rostov pretrial detention centers

Parcels and letters from Yessentuki residents Nikolai Murnev and Sergei Dudchenko, accused of preparing to set fire to a military registration and enlistment office in Pyatigorsk, were subjected to arbitrary censorship in Rostov-on-Don pretrial detention centers. Activists continue to raise funds to pay for Murnev's lawyer.

As reported by "Kavkazsky Uzel", Nikolai Murnev, Sergei Dudchenko, Vladimir Burmay and another Yessentuki resident, later identified as Kirill Buzmakov, were accused of preparing a terrorist attack (Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) in Pyatigorsk; their case is being heard in court. According to the prosecution, they planned to set fire to the military registration and enlistment office. In August, it became known that Buzmakov died at home and was released from the pretrial detention center in serious condition. Human rights activists have recognized Nikolai Murnev and Sergei Dudchenko as political prisoners. Activists have announced a collection of 440 thousand rubles to pay for the work of a lawyer in Nikolai Murnev's case before the verdict.

Sergey Dudchenko is being held in Pre-trial Detention Center No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don, Nikolay Murnev is being held in Pre-trial Detention Center No. 5, also in Rostov. Of the four books that Dudchenko's relatives sent him, the prison staff gave him only one, Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road.

The prisoner was not given a biography of industrialist and founder of the automobile company Enzo Ferrari, citing the fact that "it is forbidden to read biographies of foreign citizens." Joe Hill's thriller about a rock star and ghosts, Heart-Shaped Box, was confiscated because of the stylized skull on the cover, and Sergei Dovlatov's Third Left Turn was taken without comment, according to an article in the publication Tochka (the "We Can Explain" project has been included in the register of foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice).

Nikolay Murnev, in turn, faced censorship of his correspondence: the letters to which Murnev attached his drawings did not reach his family. According to Murnev's wife Anna, Nikolai drew a dolphin and a cat for the children and sent them via an electronic messaging system. "Probably, the dolphin and the cat were considered suspicious symbols," the publication suggests.

Anna Murneva, who was able to see her husband on July 18, noted that her magazines were not accepted in the package for her husband. The collection of assistance to pay for Murnev's lawyer, which is being conducted on the mutual aid platform "Zaodno", is ongoing; out of the required 440 thousand, only 123 thousand 900 rubles have been collected so far. The prisoner's family cannot pay for the lawyer's work on their own; after her husband's arrest, Anna is raising four children alone.

“To all those who support me, a huge hello and gratitude. This invaluable help that you provide to me and my family, may it return to your families in goodness,” the Telegram channel dedicated to the “biker case” quotes Murnev as saying.

Human rights activists reported that Murnev was tortured both after his arrest and later, while in the Rostov pretrial detention center. On the first day of his arrest, a lawyer photographed Murnev, whose face bore clear signs of beating. In the pretrial detention center, he was pressured by prisoners collaborating with the administration, where Murnev was forced to injure himself in the neck to avoid torture.

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