Revolutionary Communist Youth League (Bolshevik) - Political Prisoners

Political Prisoners

In 1997 one of the leading RCYL(b) activists Andrey Sokolov, accused of attacking a newly-erected monument to tsar Nicholas II, was sentenced to two years in jail.

In April 1999, an explosion took place outside the Federal Security Service (FSB) reception in Moscow. An anonymous organization called the New Revolutionary Alternative claimed responsibility.

In July 1999 the FSB arrested Aleksandr Biriukov. The arrest has opened up the so-called "NRA case" as he was charged with organizing the April 1999 explosion. He was initially put in jail where he spent 21⁄₂ years and was eventually forcibly transferred to a psychiatric clinic on a FSB directive, although the doctors had admitted he had political views not mental illness. He was released in May 2005.

In February–March 2000 two RCYL(b) activists, Nadezhda Raks and Larisa Romanova, and an RCYL(b) supporter, Olga Nevskaya, were arrested by the FSB, the Federal Security Service and accused of organising the explosion in April 1999.

Although all of the three activists were consistently denying the accusation, they were held in jail throughout the investigation, which lasted for over three years. The court decision was not announced until May 2003, when despite the fact that no direct proof has ever been presented, they received 9 years (Nadezhda), 61⁄₂ years (Larisa) and 6 years (Olga).

In the summer of 2000, Andrey Sokolov was arrested again on the charge of allegedly possessing weapons. He was then imprisoned until February 2004. For his communist convictions and political activity, he spent six years in jail out of the 26 years of his life.

Today, the following activists remain prisoners: Olga Nevskaja (RCYL(B) supporter), Viacheslav Luniov and Igor Fedorovich (members of a radical left-wing organization, the AKM). In the Ukraine, young communists Anrei Jakovenko, Igor Danilov, Aleksandr Smirnov, Ilya Romanov and Bogdan Zinchenko are also in prison.

The Revolutionary Communist Youth League (Bolsheviks), the Russian Communist Workers' Party - the Revolutionary Party of Communists and the Committee to Defend Political Prisoners Fighting for Socialism are spearheading the struggle to release them and to put an end to what they view as repressions for communist convictions.

In October 2005, RCYL(b)) member Larisa Romanova was released from jail following a long campaign in her support. She is now back in action in the vanguard of the movement.