For "insubordination": How I spent a week in a special detention center
On Sunday, March 26, protest actions took place in Russian cities, organized by the Anti-Corruption Foundation, at which the police massively detained people. The speeches were related to the investigation of the secret real estate of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
But to get to the office that day, you didn’t even have to go out. In the FBK office, from where the activists were broadcasting live from actions in different cities, police came with searches, allegedly because of reports of a bomb. But in the end, all the Foundation employees present in the building were taken to the police station. Subsequently, many of them were sentenced to administrative arrest because of “insubordination by police officers.” We talked with the video producer of Navalny’s Teams, Oksana Baulina, who spent a week in a special reception room, and learned how the detention protocols were fabricated, what a day in Moscow’s monkey house is and why it’s not so scary in West Biryulyov.
fingerprint powder on FBK studio pic.twitter.com/7Cx1cdZnJR
- Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) data-width = "620" data-height = "300"> March 31, 2017
At Alexey Navalny's headquarters, I work as a video producer — I work on the Navalny Life TV channel, the Kactus morning political program, and live broadcasts. I used to work as a publishing editor at Open Russia, and before that I had been working in glossy journalism for thirteen years. On March 26, the police first detained me and released me only seven days later.
On Sunday, March 26, the Anti-Corruption Foundation conducted a broadcast of rallies throughout Russia. I arrived there at two o'clock in the morning to prepare all the necessary equipment, and we went on air at 8:30 in the morning and started broadcasting in the Far Eastern regions. All protest speeches commented on Leonid Volkov. Closer to four o'clock in the afternoon we were visited by the police and began to inspect all the premises with the dog - we also showed their visit on the air. Having been in all the closets and offices and not making any complaints, they left the office, after which we quietly continued to broadcast. But then they came back and began to quite rudely kick everyone out of the office - they personally pushed me in the back. Allegedly, in the building, they either declared a fire alarm, or laid an explosive device.
We gathered in the internal office and waited for the rest of the FBK staff. Interestingly, Leonid Volkov was kept inside the building, despite the fact that there was supposedly a bomb in it. Then the police forced us to come back to bring out through the entrance on the opposite side and plunge into the keyway. We were taken to the Danilovsky police station and did not explain the reasons for the detention for a long time. But then the head of the Center for Combating Extremism in the Southern District arrived there - such a brave youngster in a leather jacket and a well-trimmed red beard. In this ATS we had to spend the whole day.
The first arrest reports were given to us for signature much later than the three hours prescribed by law. They indicated the article of the Administrative Code 19.3 "Disobedience of the lawful order of a police officer." We refused to admit our guilt, to be photographed and to be fingerprinted, because we fulfilled absolutely all the demands of the police, even obviously illegal ones, and moreover did not offer any resistance.
Then they began to load us one at a time into the “monkey”, and for the guys they released the punishment cell altogether - a place for especially violent detainees. In general, Danilovsky ATS had too little space for such a large number of visitors, so for our sake, completely asocial young people were released from the monkey in a state of either alcohol or drug intoxication. They behaved extremely aggressively, almost rushed at the girls with their fists. But, apparently, the police officers considered that we pose a much greater danger to others.
FBK employees met from 7 days pic.twitter.com/8joSbLwZ1R
- Nesterova Lizaveta (@nesteliza_) April 2, 2017
All the girls, including me, were escorted to a “monkey house” that looked like an aquarium — such a glass box. Two illegal migrant women were already in it, and they were deported the very next morning. In this cell there were very stiff and narrow benches, so we had to sleep in the half-sitting position. The police officers did not give us any food or water. It's good that volunteers brought everything they needed. At two or three o'clock in the morning, interrogations began, allegedly on a criminal case already completed. However, we were not even told which article. I'm not sure that this case exists at all. I refused to answer questions without a lawyer, referring to Article 51 of the Constitution, which enshrines the right to refuse to testify. As a result, they filled out a questionnaire for me.
However, the next morning we were nevertheless judged by an administrative article in the Simonovsky District Court. Ludicrous meetings lasted several hours. In addition, the court was provided with forged detention reports - not those that we signed on March 26, where the "fire alarm" was registered, but new ones - with the "threat of explosion."
90% of the detained FBK employees received standard seven days, only Leonid Volkov was imprisoned for ten days. The last defendant received five days - apparently, in this way the judge wanted to demonstrate his independence. Two people received fines of 1000 rubles, as they could not be detained for health reasons.
After the trial, at four o'clock in the morning, we were taken to a special detention center in West Biryulyov. In contrast to the Danilovsky ATS, local police officers treated us humanly, and living conditions were more or less normal. Even the food was quite edible. In a special reception room in each cell there are four beds of wooden planks on which one could sleep normally - everything is better than lying on a squeaky falling through metal grid. All the girls from FBK were put in one cell, and the guys were scattered in different ways.
On Friday, March 31, we were taken to the appeal - we demanded to appeal against illegal sentences. My consideration was among the first, so I had to wait for the rest in the cold key for six hours. The driver tried very hard to warm it, even bought us a simple meal for his money. But still, upon returning home, I woke up with a fever and a stuffy nose. Moscow City Court has left all resolutions practically unchanged. Only one girl was reduced for a day. Now we are planning to file a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights to appeal against the illegal arrest of the employees of our foundation.
Cover: Oksana Baulina / Facebook
