Write a Letter to Azat Miftakhov. The Mathematician and Anarchist Is Being Tortured in a Penal Colony in Kharp

Write a letter to Azat Miftakhov. The mathematician and anarchist is being tortured in a penal colony in Kharp

Azat Miftakhov grew up in Nizhnekamsk, studied at the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University, and specialized in theoretical mathematics. He believed that the exact sciences cultivate “intellectual honesty.”

In 2021, he was sentenced to six years in a penal colony in the case over an attack on a United Russia office. And in September 2023, immediately after his release, he was accused of “justifying terrorism.” Later, a court sentenced him to four years in prison. Miftakhov himself denies guilt.

▶️ What Azat is interested in

🧡Science. Azat is a mathematician: since childhood he took part in academic competitions, graduated from Moscow State University with honors, studied in graduate school, and continues to write scholarly works even in detention. Still, his interests are not limited to mathematics. For example, in the penal colony Azat became interested in reading textbooks and studied biology, especially genetics.

🧡 Anarchism. Azat said that he came to this ideology in 2014. What attracted him first and foremost were the ideas of social justice, mutual aid, and personal freedom.

🧡 Cats. Azat loves cats. He got to know many of them while he was being held in Butyrka prison, and for a time a kitten even lived in their cell. Also, for several years now Azat’s family in Nizhnekamsk has had a cat named Gardvord, whom Azat has only seen in photos: the cat joined the family after 2019.

▶️ What is happening in the penal colony

In April 2026, Azat was transferred to IK-18 Polar Owl in Kharp, almost three thousand kilometers from his family.

The day after his arrival, according to Azat, he was tortured: tied up with tape, beaten with a wooden mallet, subjected to electric shocks, and threatened with rape. The staff demanded total submission, and when Azat refused, the violence continued.

His mother wrote this:

“My cry to officer Mikhail Sobolev: how dare you abuse my son like this? He did not kill, did not rape, did not steal. Did you think you would get away with it? You never will. Azat will die, but you will not break him.”

💌 Write Azat a letter — your support means a great deal to him! Send a letter through our Vestochka service! It is free and safe. If you are writing for the first time, the website has detailed instructions.

❗️ In addition, Azat’s relatives have prepared a statement against torture in the penal colony — you can send it through the online reception office of the Investigative Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The more complaints there are, the higher the chance that attention will be paid to the situation.

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