Nikita Uvarov, a teenager from Kansk who has been originally arrested for the FSB in June 2020 at the age 14 in the so-called “Minecraft” plot, is currently being held in SIZO (temporary detention center) in Kansk. At the time of his arrest, Nikita and two other 14-year-old boys were caught by the FSB posting flyers in support of Azat Miftakhov on the wall of a local FSB office. The boys were eventually criminally charged and prosecuted for supposedly being an anarchist terror cell. Nikita refused to cooperate with the authorities and in February 2022, at the age of 16, a special military court found him guilty of “terrorist training” and sentenced him to five years in a penal colony. Like Azat Miftakhov, Nikita Uvarov is widely viewed as a political prisoner and has been formally recognized as such by Memorial.
Nikita started serving his sentence at a juvenile correctional colony. However, he recently turned 18 and according to a court decision he is supposed to be transferred to an adult penal colony to serve out the rest of his sentence there. While Nikita is appealing that decision, he is being temporarily held in SIZO-5 in Kansk.
While imprisoned, Nikita had been admitted to a college in Izhevsk where he is supposed to study graphics design remotely, via online lectures. The administration of SIZO-5 does not allow the use of computers or video, and thus far they have also not allowed Nikita to receive printed study materials which his family members have been trying to send him.
If Nikita Uvarov does get transferred to the adult prison colony, the concerns about his safety and health will greatly increase. The case of Nikita Uvarov remains one of the most outrageous examples of human rights abuses by Putin’s regime, involving criminal prosecution of children on trumped up political charges.
The case of Azat Miftakhov 