The Golovinsky Court of Moscow has extended until 7th April the pre-trial detention of Moscow State University student Azat Miftakhov. The court hearing was held yesterday late afternoon outside the court’s official working hours, with Azat’s supporters and mother forcibly removed from the court room.

Azat was detained under suspicion of bomb-making on 1st February. He was released a week later after a brutal interrogation failed to extract confession from him. However, he has rearrested immediately on a lesser charge of hooliganism. He is now charged with alleged involvement in an arson attack on the Moscow office of the ruling United Russia party in January 2018.

Azat Miftakhov, a 25-year-old postgraduate mathematics student, was subjected to severe torture with beatings and electric shocks during his detention. His defence lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina reported that while arrested, Azat attempted suicide to avoid further interrogation. At one point during his arrest, his whereabouts were unknown to family, friends, and lawyer.

Image: Avtonom