‘I dream of the day I can hug you’

RUSSIA – On a cold November morning, Irina Turbina packs bags filled with food, adds two large shower gels, two bulky packs of toilet paper, nail clippers, a novel, and a geography atlas, and sets out on a grueling two-day trip. The bags and books are for her son, 16-year-old Arseny. It might be her last chance to catch a glimpse of him before he is sent to a juvenile correctional colony to serve a five-year sentence.

Arseny Turbin is recognized by several human rights groups as one of Russia’s youngest political prisoners. He was sentenced in June after being found guilty of terror offenses for allegedly joining the Freedom of Russia Legion, a paramilitary unit of Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine. He admits he contacted the group but denies he joined.

He is among at least 35 minors who have faced politically motivated criminal charges in Russia since 2009, according to the independent monitoring organization OVD-Info. Of those, 23 cases have been initiated since Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Turbina, who lives in the small town of Livny in the Oryol region, some 300 miles to the south of Moscow, has made the long journey to a pre-trial detention center on the outskirts of the capital every two weeks, as visits are restricted to twice a month. After hours of waiting, she sees her son through a barred glass partition, speaking only by telephone. Holding hands or touching is strictly prohibited.

“The last time I hugged him was June 20, the day the verdict was pronounced,” she recounted in a phone interview with CNN. “He hugged me, cried, and then the guards immediately came up and took him away.” In August, a year after he was first questioned, Arseny marked his 16th birthday behind bars.

“Please, I’m asking you to do everything you can to make sure I get released,” Arseny begged his mom in a letter written ahead of an appeal hearing last month and shared with CNN. He had lost 15 kilograms  due to a stress-induced lack of appetite and had been moved to a different cell after episodes of violence from fellow inmates, he said, describing the situation to his mother as “very difficult, critical”. (CNN)

Photo: Arseny Turbin, 16, was sentenced in June to serve five years in prison for terror offenses. He denies the charges. CNN has blurred the face of the other person pictured to protect her privacy.