Who is Arseny Turbin, Russia's youngest political prisoner, who faces 5 years in jail?

At 15, Arseny Turbin is Russia’s youngest political prisoner.

He was arrested in the summer of 2023 and was sentenced to five years in prison for terrorism in June.

On Thursday (November 7), he lost an appeal to overturn his sentence; however, the term was only reduced by 24 days.

Here’s all we know about him.

About Arseny Turbin

Arseny Turbin, a 15-year-old schoolboy, hails from the small town of Livny in Russia’s western Oryol region, which is about 450 kilometres south of Moscow. He was born in Dubai to a Russian mother and a UAE citizen father, according to independent news outlet Mediazona.

His mother, Irina Turbina, who works as a senior contract manager at the Livny Construction College, soon separated and returned to Russia and raised her son alone.

He attended the Livny Lyceum, one of the top schools in the Oryol region, but later quit due to bullying due to his skin colour.

Turbin was charged by authorities with joining the Freedom of Russia Legion, a paramilitary group made up of Russian volunteers who defend Ukraine from the Russian army. Russia has classified the group as a terrorist organisation.

The Oryol region Investigative Committee handled the criminal case against Arseny because he is a minor. Turbin was given a five-year sentence in a juvenile colony following his arrest.

Turbin has been identified as a political prisoner by Memorial, a human rights organisation that won the Nobel Peace Prize. “Turbin’s criminal case violates his rights to freedom of speech, expression and dissemination of information,” the group said.

On Thursday, the court of appeals reduced his five-year term, but only by 24 days.

Irina told Mediazona that the court had recognised that her son’s initial sentence “had not taken into account the time he had spent undergoing medical examination as an inpatient”, even though the original verdict remained in force.

According to the Russian human rights group OVD-Info, Turbin is one of nine minors who have been charged with crimes motivated by political motives since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 and the ensuing assault on civil liberties.

A Putin critic

Turbin was brought to the notice of authorities for posting opposition videos and critical remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin on his Free Russia Telegram channel. There were just five subscribers, and the channel has already been deleted.

Turbin allegedly distributed anti-Russian writing on behalf of the legion, according to investigators. He acknowledged handing out leaflets, but he denied doing as anyone told him.

At school, Turbin publicly criticised Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Additionally, he was politically active on social media, producing his own political content on occasion and reposting content from Russian opposition figures. One such video shows him holding a lone picket in favour of the late opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed he “became carried away by politics” and “the ideology of liberalism.”

They said Turbin “formed the opinion that there is no freedom of speech and independent media in the Russian Federation.” Notably, similar views have been shared by opposition groups and Western ambassadors in the capital.

However, in late August 2023, Arseny’s electronic gadgets were seized after a search of his residence by FSB agents. He was accused of joining the Freedom of Russia Legion and called in for questioning the following day.

Investigators interviewed some of his classmates, who claimed that Arseny frequently criticised Putin and Russia’s activities in Ukraine. However, none of them said he was associated with the Freedom of Russia Legion in their statements, as per BBC.

‘Didn’t commit any crime’

Turbin denies all the charges against him.

He says he researched the legion but that he never applied and has committed no crime.

He is innocent, according to his mother as well.

“I just don’t understand the judge who handed down the sentence,” she told the BBC, adding that he was acting of his own accord and not on the instructions of the Freedom of Russia Legion.

“I was hysterical, I was shaking, crying. Arseny told me: ‘Mum, calm down, I didn’t commit any crime, they will work it out.’"

Novaya Europe revealed last month that Turbin had complained of being beaten by his cellmate, Azizbek, and had lost a significant amount of weight while imprisoned.

Turbin’s mother informed Mediazona that following a fight in his cell, Turbin was also kept in solitary confinement for a week in September.

With inputs from agencies