Moscow (AsiaNews) - The confession of Russian opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhayev, who implicated fellow Left Front members on Monday, was obtained through torture. If his charges are held up in court, his comrades could be charged with plotting mass disturbances. However, during a visit yesterday by human right activists, he said he confessed because his interrogators threatened him and members of his family. He showed up in Russia after vanishing from Kiev where he sought political refugee status at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Anna Karetnikova, the deputy head of the Public Monitoring Commission, and four other human rights workers visited Leonid Razvozzhayev at the Lefortovo pre-trial detention facility in Moscow.
"Razvozzhayev said that in the basement of a residential building, presumably near West Russia's Bryansk Region, he was forced to sign a confession under the threat of receiving a shot of truth serum, and after threats to the life and health of himself and those closest to him," Karetnikova told the Russian press. He was also not allowed to see his lawyer, Violetta Volkova.
Russian authorities denied the charges of torture. Investigation Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said that Razvozzhayev had voluntarily turned himself in and had admitted his involvement in a plot to overthrow the government.
The activist was charged in absentia for organising mass disturbances a week after pro-Kremlin NTV broadcast 'Anatomy of a Protest 2' on 5 October, showing Razvozzhayev and fellow Left Front members planning a coup in Russia, with funds from Georgia and Great Britain.
The authorities started a formal investigation on 17 October after the allegations were made in the TV broadcast, which showed secretly-filmed footage worthy of an intelligence service.
Konstantin Lebedev, another leading member of the Left Front, was sentenced to two months in prison on the same charges as Razvozzhayev.
Left Front chief Serghei Udaltsov has to appear in court on Friday when formal charges are expected to be laid against him. He should too be taken into custody.
According to rumours, Udaltsov might be planning to leave Russia with his wife and children to avoid prison. He has been on the forefront of the anti-Putin struggle.
Razvozzhayev, Lebedev and Udaltsov could get up to ten years in jail.
"This is all revenge for our recent protests," Udaltsov said. "Everything is clear - this is a challenge to society and an attempt to launch a new wave of repression."