FSB adds allegedly tortured activists' left-wing community to Russia's list of terrorist organizations

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has added the “Set” (Network) community to its list of terrorist organizations, citing a decision by the Moscow District Military Court on January 17, 2019, which entered force on March 14.

Federal officials are currently building a case against several left-wing activists from Penza and St. Petersburg arrested for plotting terrorist attacks through “Set.” According to investigators, the suspects planned attacks during Russia’s March 2018 presidential election and the summer 2018 FIFA World Cup. The case evidence relies heavily on confessions from several defendants who now say they were tortured into incriminating themselves.

The first verdict in the “Penza Case” was handed down this January, when St. Petersburg resident Igor Shishkin signed a plea bargain and received three and a half years in prison.