Interview was made by German anarcho-pacifist paper Graswurzelrevolution, and is
published in the new issue of the paper in German. English translation by ABCMoscow. ---- - During the last months you have been very busy with supportinganti-war activists. How many anti-war prisoners are you supporting at the moment?---- We are looking for political prisoners in anti-war cases who need helptogether with a group called Zone of Solidarity, which formed in April. At thattime we realized that the scale of repression was very significant and that thehuman rights organizations were not helping all people. It takes a lot of effortto find the data that makes it possible to contact the relatives and theprisoners themselves. Sometimes they refuse being contacted at all.We are now supporting 9 people to varying degrees, including correspondence,sending food parcels, paying for a lawyer, advising relatives how to passparcels, how to raise funds to pay for a lawyer, etc.Letters to prisoners are very important. The ABC-Moscow website has the addressesof about 35 Russians who spoke out against the war in Ukraine and who arecurrently in prison. Unfortunately, in most cases, the administration of the SIZOonly allows letters in Russian.These people have different political positions, as some have a lot of supportbecause they were already well-known activists. As for some others, no one hadever heard anything about them before. We publish the correspondence addresses ofall the people we know, as long as they don't hold nationalist views. There aremore people in jail for anti-war protests, but we don't know everyone's name andlocation, because when people are arrested, the police tend not to publish theirnames, in order to isolate them from the outside world.We try to find people who have just been arrested and find out if they have alawyer and support from relatives or friends. If not, we hire a lawyer and sendparcels with food and everything they need. Food in pre-trial detentionfacilities in Russia is poor and they don't give out hygienic items, clothes,dishes or stationery. Prisoners share with each other, but that is why as soon asa person gets a chance, he starts asking for things not just for himself.Support for prisoners is needed at all times. Approximately half of all prisonersin Russia do not get help from family or friends when they find themselves in apre-trial detention center. Yet, a prisoner can be transferred to anotherpre-trial detention facility and leave some of his belongings in the cell forothers. Or, for example, a person was arrested in the spring, and then summercame and it got hot and he needed summer clothes.- Most of them are accused of "Spreading fake information about the use ofRussian armed forces". What exactly does it mean? When was the law introduced,and what is the possible maximum sentence? How many people have been accused orarrested due to that law in Russia all together?This is not entirely true; there are a lot of cases under other articles as well.For example, there are 31 criminal cases under the criminal article "vandalism"(spraying inscriptions, desecration of buildings, defacement of public property),and 44 people are prosecuted. For such actions one can get up to three years inprison. There are charges under the article "terrorism" for arson of militaryregistration and enlistment offices and other radical actions. On the whole, morethan 200 criminal cases were initiated for anti-war protests in Russia (we thinkat least 250, since not all actions are considered as political actions by humanrights NGOŽs - who have their own criteria). Among them are 73 criminal cases for"fakes". "Fakes" in Russia are the dissemination of any information about theactions of the Russian Armed Forces that differs from the official version.A lot of accusations are made against journalists under these articles; now inRussia it is impossible to write about the war if your version differs evenslightly from that of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and theKremlin. Many medias have closed down, others are on the verge of disappearing.Penalties under the criminal article on fakes can be very wide. If it is an"ordinary fake," it can be a fine or up to three years in prison. But if thereare aggravating circumstances, the prison term can be up to fifteen years. Underthe article on "discrediting the army", the maximum term is five years in prison.In early August a sentence was handed down to English teacher Irina Gen fromPenza, who in March spoke very emotionally to children about the actions of theRussian army in Ukraine and the sanctions. The children were upset that theycould not take part in international competitions, and Irina explained that thesanctions and bans were an inevitable consequence of the war. One of the childrenrecorded her speech on her phone and told her parents, who took the matterfurther. Irina was forced to quit her job, the police instituted criminalproceedings, and as a result she was sentenced to 5 years probation and 3 yearsof trial period. That is, for the next 8 years she will live under the control ofthe police and will have to behave very carefully, so that the probation is notreplaced by a real one.In addition to criminal articles, there is an article "for discrediting the army"in the Code Of Administrative Offences Of The Russian Federation, which involvespunishment as a fine of up to 100 thousand rubles (about 1.5 thousand euros) forordinary citizens and more for those who hold some official position.In last six months, about 3 500 protocols have been drawn up under this article.Not all of them have been considered in court yet, but if we look at those whohave already been considered, we will see that in the overwhelming majority ofcases the court does not conduct a judicial investigation, but passes judgment(fine) solely on the basis of the police officer's opinion. Very often posts,reposts and comments in social media that talk about any events in Ukraine areimputed. In fact, there are a huge number of such posts, and fines are just givenrandomly if some person or post attracts the attention of the police.- Many people were arrested due to posts on social media, others for statementsin public. A special case is that of Dmitriy Kurmoyadov. Can you say a few wordsabout him?Very little is known about this case. In June 2022, former priest of the RussianOrthodox Church Ioan (Dmitry) Kurmoyarov was sent to the pre-trial detentioncenter on charges of false public statements about the actions of the Russianmilitary (up to 10 years in prison). In December 2021, Kurmoyarov asked theInvestigative Committee to bring Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to justice forinsulting the feelings of believers - this is how he interpreted the design ofthe Russian Defense Ministry temple. After that, he was stripped of his priestlyrank. On the 24th of February the priest started to actively express his opinionagainst the war in Ukraine and distributed a video about Vladimir Putin and theRussian army. It is not yet known which of these videos was the reason for thecriminal case.A further example, there is another criminal case - Sergei Komandirov. In 2019,Karim Yamadaev, an oppositionist from Tatarstan, posted a video "Judge Gramm" onYouTube. It staged a trial of people with black sacks on their faces andnameplates with the names of prominent figures in Russia and state-ownedcompanies: all of them were "given a death sentence." Yamadaev was accused ofpublicly calling for terrorist activities on the Internet and for insulting arepresentative of the authorities. He spent more than a year in pre-trialdetention, but the court sentenced him to a fine.Sergei Komandirov was a volunteer in the headquarters of Alexei Navalny, he wasarrested and fined for handing out leaflets. In May 2021, Sergey made a repost ofthe video "Judge Gramm" in the social network "VKontakte" and offered to collectmoney to pay the fine of its author Karim Yamadaev. Six months later he wasarrested and recently a court found him guilty of justifying terrorism forreposting this video and sentenced him to 6.5 years in prison. Therefore, inRussia it is currently impossible to predict what the consequences of this orthat action will be. The court carries out orders to put this or that person in jail.- A case quite well-known is that of feminist artist Aleksandra Skochilenko. Whataction is she accused of, and what is her actual situation about?Skochilenko faces up to ten years in prison for replacing the price tags in thesupermarket with leaflets. These leaflets contained information about the crimesof the Russian army in Mariupol (city in Ukraine). A criminal case was openedagainst Aleksandra under the article on fakes. It is harder and more dangerousfor her to be in jail than most others, since she suffers from celiac disease,and it is impossible to follow a specific diet in prison. However, she has a verygood support group and a lot of media attention, and we hope that she will betransferred to house arrest soon and will not get a real sentence.- Some activists were arrested after anti-war assemblies in the spring, or afterother actions against the Russian attack on Ukraine. Some of them are accused of"preparation of hooliganism" or even of "terrorism". Has there already beentrials, or are they still in investigative custody?In most antiwar cases, the investigation and the courts are still ongoing, inRussia it usually takes at least 3 months to investigate, 1 month for theprosecutor to check the case, and then it goes to court. And the judge or lawyerscan go on vacation in the summer, and then the hearings are stretched out forseveral months. Crimes under such articles of the criminal code as terrorism areinvestigated for 1.5 years and trials take half a year. Among other things, theaccused is sent to a psychiatric examination and he is in a psychiatric hospitalfor a month, which in some ways is worse than pre-trial detention. The examineesare not allowed to wash themselves, this procedure is done by the orderlies, itis impossible to send a letter, etc.So far there are about 15 sentences in anti-war cases. In some cases we don'teven know the outcome of the trial. Five sentences were handed down under thearticle "violence against a representative of authority," this is for resistingpolice during protests or while getting detained, including those who gluedleaflets or put graffiti on walls. Four people received 1 to 2 years in prisonand one person received a probation. For example, the court sentenced 22-year-oldAnastasia Levasheva, who threw a Molotov cocktail toward the police, to two yearsin prison.Six sentences were handed down for "fakes": one fine of 1 million rubles (14.3thousand euros), two probations, two sentences of correctional labor, and one7-year prison sentence. The last one (7 years) was given to Alexei Gorinov, amunicipal deputy from Moscow, for "fakes about the armed forces using hisofficial position". Russian authorities are very nervous about the "fifth column"(traitors) in their ranks. A deputy at the municipal level has no real power inRussia, but his opinion it is not just the opinion of a simple worker. He is seenas a representative of the authorities. According to the investigation, the crimewas committed by prior conspiracy, with the use of his official position and forreasons of hatred and enmity. What was the crime? During the meeting of thedeputies, Gorinov called Russia's invasion of Ukraine a war, not a "specialmilitary operation," and reported that children were dying in Ukraine.- How are the prison conditions for anti-war activists?Conditions for anti-war activists in prisons are the same as for other prisoners,that is, not very good. The cells do not always have sleeping places for allprisoners, they are not taken out for regular walks, the food is poor, and it isvery dangerous to get sick, because the quality of medical care is very low. Whenthere was an upsurge of covid disease, if one person in a cell got sick, theystopped taking the whole cell out - they just passed food through the window anddid not give any medication, there were no vaccinations for prisoners either.- How do you support them? And how is it possible to support your work?We provide support to prisoners and defendants on anti-war actions, depending onwhat their needs are and what their support situation is from family and friends.We can fully or partially pay for a lawyer, packages with food and clothing, sendbooks, write letters and attend court hearings so that the person understandsthat they are not alone.For example, in June we started helping Irina Bystrova, a 57-year-old art teacherfrom Petrozavodsk. At the very beginning of the war, she published calls on thesocial network Vkontakte for Russian soldiers to turn their weapons against theKremlin and called the actions of the Russian army "criminal". In March, she wascharged with "justifying terrorism" and spreading "fakes" about the Russian army.Irina was not arrested, but she got a "ban on certain activities" (she cannot usethe Internet and communicate with anyone except relatives and a lawyer) and shelost the opportunity to teach. We collected money to help Irina hire a nurse forher 84-year-old mother while she will be in a psychiatric hospital for an evaluation.To help, you can write letters to prisoners (prisons only allow letters inRussian and please do not write anything about the war in Ukraine or calls forradical action). You can also send a letter to abc-msk AATT riseup.net, and wewill print it out and send it to you.We need financial help for food parcels and lawyers. Unfortunately, lawyers inRussia do not work pro bono and charge quite a lot for their work.https://avtonom.org/en/news/interview-anarchist-black-cross-moscow_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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