Arseny Turbin. Photo: social media
Arseny Turbin, a 16-year-old school boy serving a five-year prison term who is believed to be Russia’s youngest political prisoner, has lost 17kg since he was imprisoned earlier this year, his mother told the Free Arseny support group after visiting him on Saturday.
“Yesterday Arseny was weighed: his weight is now 52kg, even though he weighed 69kg when he came to the detention centre”, his mother Irina said, adding that her son had told her he was struggling with a lack of appetite because he was “very stressed” about his treatment in pretrial detention as well as his subsequent experience in prison.
While Arseny had complained of beatings from a cellmate in a letter to his mother last week, she told the Free Arseny Telegram channel on Sunday that Arseny’s mood had been “much better” since the cellmate in question had been moved to solitary confinement.
Turbin was sentenced to five years in prison by a military court in June aged just 15, for involvement with a “terrorist organisation”. Investigators found that in the summer of 2023, Turbin had attempted to join the Freedom of Russia Legion, a battalion that fights alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine against the Russian military, and had posted leaflets critical of Vladimir Putin in local people’s mailboxes on behalf of the organisation. The legion has been designated a terrorist organisation in Russia.
Independent news outlet Mediazona subsequently revealed that security forces had falsified the report of their interview with Turbin, which was then used to open a criminal case against him.
