Photo: Social media
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced it will verify reports that a Kazakhstani student has been arrested in Russia on charges related to promoting and justifying terrorism, the news outlet Kursiv reported, citing the ministry.
Russia’s Investigative Committee in St. Petersburg previously confirmed the arrest of a foreign student, though it did not disclose his nationality. The student is reportedly charged under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code—“public justification and propaganda of terrorism.” According to investigators, between January and February of this year, the young man allegedly made public statements justifying terrorist acts. Russian National Guard special forces (SOBR) were involved in his arrest, during which literature labeled as propaganda was reportedly confiscated.
Unofficial Telegram channels claim the individual is 23-year-old Harry Azaryan, a Kazakh national. According to the outlet Rotonda, Azaryan was part of a student cell of the far-left group Workers’ Power. His criminal case allegedly includes a transcript of remarks made at an informal student gathering, in which he spoke about “revolution, class hatred, and the power of the streets.”
The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law stated that Azaryan’s arrest is linked to a protest action carried out by Workers’ Power on March 24. Participants reportedly hung a mannequin of the Roman goddess of wisdom Minerva from a monument to Count Uvarov outside St. Petersburg State University, adding a sign that read: “Science is dead.”
Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti previously cited a source claiming that the Workers’ Power cell at St. Petersburg State University was formed about a year ago but had only recently become active. The agency described the group as a youth offshoot of the far-left Organization of Communist Internationalists, which it said is affiliated with a British-based international Trotskyist alliance led by ideologue Alan Woods.
Update: On the evening of May 16, the Krasnogvardeysky District Court in St. Petersburg ordered Harry Azaryan be held in pre-trial detention for two months, TASS reports.
