Activist at picket in Yerevan demands release of man convicted in "Network" case*

St. Petersburg activist Alexander Sherchenkov held a picket near the Russian embassy in Armenia in support of Dmitry Pchelintsev, who is serving a sentence in Russia for the terrorist group "Network"*.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, Alexander Sherchenkov regularly holds pickets in front of the Russian embassy in Yerevan demanding the release of prisoners in Russia, whom he considers to be unjustly convicted. Thus, on June 28, Sherchenkov held a picket in support of Yuri Mikheyev, convicted in the case of sabotage, and on June 14, a picket in support of convicted anarchist Ruslan Sidiki.

18:30 07.03.2024

Human rights activists consider the South Caucasus an unreliable refuge for Russians

Armenia and Georgia are not a reliable refuge for those who left Russia for political reasons, since the influence of Russian special services is high there and there is a risk of extradition to their homeland, they stated Russian human rights activists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

On July 5, Alexander Sherchenkov held a picket in Yerevan in support of Dmitry Pchelintsev, RusNews reported late that evening.

The publication is illustrated with a photograph of Sherchenkov holding a poster with the inscription "Freedom for Dima Pchelintsev". Behind the picketer is a fenced area and an information stand "Embassy of Russia in Armenia". No other people are visible in the frame.

In February 2020, a court in Penza found seven people guilty of organizing the terrorist community "Network"* and participating in it. They were sentenced to imprisonment for terms ranging from 6 to 18 years. The harshest sentence was given to 27-year-old Dmitry Pchelintsev, whom the FSB considered the organizer of the community, RBC reported on February 10, 2020.

The charges were based on confessions given by the defendants during the investigation. According to the defendants, the confessions were the result of torture. Their relatives and human rights activists who saw them in the pretrial detention center spoke about traces of torture. In court, all the defendants refused to plead guilty, the publication says.

According to the FSB and secret witnesses, the defendants intended to use explosions during the presidential elections and the 2018 World Cup to "stir up the masses to destabilize the political situation" and stage an armed rebellion, Kommersant reported on February 10, 2020.

Recall that Alexander Sherchenkov is an activist and anarchist who held solo pickets in front of the Russian embassy in Armenia in 2024. He flew to Yerevan from St. Petersburg in June 2022 after facing the risk of criminal prosecution on charges of discrediting the army. "I probably went out about 15 times to solo pickets with a poster: "No to war" in St. Petersburg," the Russian-language publication in Armenia Lava Media quoted him as saying on December 24, 2024.

At the end of February 2022, after the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, the flow of people leaving Russia increased. One of the countries of relocation was Armenia, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Why did Russians go to Armenia?".

An increase in the number of Russian citizens leaving for Armenia was also recorded in September-October 2022, after mobilization was announced in Russia. In the first 10 months of 2022, 1.4 million people arrived in Armenia, and almost half of them were Russian citizens.

* the organization is recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia.

** the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.