Russian anti-war teen faces five years in prison after losing appeal

One of Russia’s youngest political prisoners has lost his appeal to have his five-year prison sentence overturned.

Arseny Turbin was 15 years old when he was arrested in the summer of 2023.

Authorities accuse him of joining the Russian Freikorps, a paramilitary force of Russian volunteers that fights Russian forces in Ukraine.

The Freikorps was designated a terrorist organization by Russia, and Arseni was sentenced to five years in prison. On Thursday, the Court of Appeal reduced his five-year term, but only by 24 days.

Arseny is one of nine minors facing politically motivated criminal charges since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent crackdown on civil liberties, according to Russian human rights group OVD-Info.

He denies all charges against him. He said he researched the Corps, but he never applied and had not committed a crime. His mother Irina also insisted he was innocent.

“I just don’t understand the judge who made the decision,” she told the BBC.

Investigators also claim Arseny distributed leaflets on behalf of the Legion critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He admitted to distributing leaflets but denied taking instructions from anyone.

Arseny did openly criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin at school.

He is also politically active on social media, retweeting content from Russian opposition figures and occasionally sharing political content of his own, including in a video where he can be seen solo picketing in support of a deceased opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

His mother said he acted voluntarily and not on instructions from the Russian Freikorps.

However, in late August 2023, agents from Russia’s security service, the FSB, raided Arseny’s home in the small town of Livni, 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Moscow and confiscated his electronic devices.

The next day he was summoned for questioning and accused of joining the Russian Freikorps.

“I was hysterical, shaking and crying,” his mother said.

No lawyer was present during the interrogation, which Irina deeply regrets. She believes the FSB then included in the transcript an incriminating confession that Arseny never made.

Some of his classmates said in interviews with investigators that Arseni was a frequent critic of Putin and Russia’s actions in Ukraine. But in their statements seen by the BBC, no one said he had links to the Russian Freikorps.

Despite this, Arseny was formally arrested the following week.

He spent several months under house arrest while awaiting sentencing. Then, last June, he was transferred to a Moscow detention center, where he has been held ever since.

His mother said his weight dropped from 69 kilograms to 52 kilograms during that time because the constant stress caused him to lose his appetite.

Irina also noticed that he had become emotionally withdrawn and that he often asked why he was being punished for things he did not do.

At one point, Arseny also encountered a violent inmate who attacked him, hitting him on the head and threatening him.

In interviews with the BBC, Irina and Arseny’s teachers painted a picture of a very bright, politically engaged young man who now faced several years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

His mother said Arseny had been passionate about science since childhood, especially physics and economics.

He had dreamed of studying political science at a prestigious university in Moscow. “He wanted to improve life in Russia,” his mother said.

She spoke of her son’s strong sense of justice, which he developed after experiencing bullying at school.

Because he was born in Dubai to a father from the United Arab Emirates, he was often ridiculed and insulted.

Irina said that since Arseny’s arrest, he no longer has any friends as most people have distanced themselves from him.

She said her neighbors and colleagues even accused her of “raising a terrorist.”

They believed that if Arsene was indeed innocent, the court would acquit him. She believes they don’t fully understand how the Russian justice system works.

Her standard response is to hope they never have to encounter the system themselves.

“But if you do, you’ll find out.”