BEATEN TOWN

POWER AND PEOPLE

The nightmare came to Blagoveshchensk on December 10, exactly on World Human Rights Day. 40 large people in masks and camouflage uniforms arrived in a special KamAZ truck and a PAZ bus. Armed with batons and machine guns, the landing force landed on ...

The nightmare came to Blagoveshchensk on December 10, exactly on World Human Rights Day. 40 large people in masks and camouflage uniforms arrived on a special

"KamAZ" and the bus "PAZ". Armed with batons and machine guns, the paratroopers landed on the central street of the city and began to break into cafes and gaming parlors, taking away all the men in a row. Anyone who dared to protest was immediately and defiantly beaten. According to eyewitnesses, people were stuffed in piles on the back platform of the bus and taken to the police building. 18-year-old Sasha Kulakov was taken away right on the street. He and his girlfriend went to the club "Pharaoh" - a popular place for recreation of local youth.

“When we were brought to the police station, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” says Sasha, “people were standing along the walls in the foyer, corridors and even on the stairs. We were taken to the basement and also put facing the wall...

About how they put it against the wall - separately. The man rested his forehead against the wall, his feet were strictly shoulder-width apart, at a distance of a meter from the wall, his back was maximally curved, his hands behind his head. Try to stand in this position for at least five minutes - and you will understand how people felt after surviving five to seven hours. And as soon as you move - a blow with a baton from a sadist in a mask.

If you follow the letter of the law, such "prevention" takes place in the Criminal Code under the name "torture". Everyone who went through this even without beatings could not get out of bed the next day - the muscles cramped.

After the torture, people, as the detainees themselves say, were taken away to be photographed and fingerprinted, then they were offered to sign empty protocols. If someone refused, they were immediately taken to a special room, where they were already beaten with rubber truncheons. They beat me in soft places so that there were no fractures.

The sisters and doctors who received the flood of victims in those days said that they had never seen so many blue pops - naturally blue.

And what after that, or rather, during, will you order to do? Even the strongest were ready to sign anything, just to let them go. However, not all. Denis Sokolov was taken away in an ambulance straight from the "dark" room - the guy held on to the last and lost consciousness during the execution.

Aleksey Raschesov was beaten on the bus in such a way that his bladder was pierced. They dragged her to the duty room by the hair and immediately took her to the intensive care unit. According to Dr. Salimgareev, who operated on him, the guy will remain disabled for life.

If you leave Ufa through the working outskirts and, after winding around the endless shops of chemical production, get onto the Perm highway, then in a few kilometers there will be the town of Blagoveshchensk. A typical Soviet new building - two or three dozen nine-story buildings surrounded by the private sector. However, the city has a long history: once it was a prosperous merchant settlement with a large pier. And today it is an industrial center, where for 28 thousand inhabitants there are three powerful enterprises at once, as they said earlier, of union significance: the Polyef chemical association (a monopolist in its sector), an armature plant and Mayak.

True, such a concentration has little effect on the well-being of citizens. Polief is in a protracted crisis, wages have not been paid for years. "Mayak", bought out by the oligarch Veremeenko, who competed with the local president Rakhimov in the last elections and paid for it, is considered a bad place in principle. And the population lives exclusively on fittings. The average income of citizens is 2-3 thousand per month, and youth unemployment has long crossed the 30 percent barrier. So they drink, inject and rowdy, as in any Russian outback.

But it was here that an event took place that, apparently, will become a landmark for Russia, as for the USSR in its time - Novocherkassk. Today, almost a month after the city-wide massacre, the information is still contradictory - the information is closed, just like the city itself.

Three women who came to Moscow, whose relatives were injured in the course of an incomprehensible police operation, claim that for four days the riot police beat all the men they found on the street or somewhere else. After that, more than three hundred people turned to the hospital with complaints of beatings. However, the women could not present anything but a dozen statements and an issue of the local newspaper Zerkalo, where most of the testimonies were anonymous.

But the republican press worked quickly. The correspondent of the Bashkir issue of MK, apparently having understood the situation well, wrote that none of the testimonies of the victims had been confirmed. And Blagoveshchensk, according to the newspaper, is one of the most criminal cities in Russia, in which the new head of the police department, Ildar Ramazanov, firmly decided to restore order. The reason for the special operation was an unpleasant incident: three local businessmen, in a fair amount of drunkenness, pounced on officers of the patrol service who happened to be in their way. And it started: the brawlers' initiative was supported by a crowd of fifty young boobies, as a result, all three employees ended up in the hospital with brutal injuries.

The truth was confused by another newspaper, KP in Bashkiria, which gave a different version: it was the policemen who approached the local oligarchs with a request to show documents, after which the employees were immediately mutilated.

But be that as it may, the local press summarizes, in order to deal with lawlessness on the streets, OMON came to Blagoveshchensk - for prevention. (What exactly this “prevention” consisted of was carefully not specified, although for some reason it was stipulated: the Ufa policemen behaved very politely and strictly according to the law.) And the result of the event was 280 administrative cases, which the surprisingly efficient Blagoveshchensk court considered in these days, collecting fines from the citizens of drunkards and hooligans. And silence and calmness came in the city, and grateful citizens do not get tired of thanking the authorities for putting things in order.

So that readers do not accuse me of empty swearing, I will explain separately why I recounted in such detail the publications in local newspapers that reflected the official point of view. The fact is that in Blagoveshchensk I did not manage to talk to either the mayor, or the prosecutor, or the chief police officer. Honestly tried to break through, even caught on the stairs - nothing worked. Either lunch, then they grumble something indistinct, then they lie that they are not in the city. In a word, they hid as soon as the matter smelled of a public investigation. That's why the official press instead of official comments.

Moreover, an attempt to talk with the city authorities almost went sideways for me: instead of explanations, the investigator of the Blagoveshchensk prosecutor's office (a certain Valiulin) demanded to come to him for a "preventive conversation." I replied that I would only appear with a lawyer. Do you think you're behind? On the contrary, they tried to detain him - right on the street, so that all sorts of lawyer-journalists would not interfere with the establishment of constitutional order.

In the same vein, following the results of the "prevention", the Bashkir parliament-kurultai acted, which adopted an official appeal demanding that the capital's press stop criticizing the long-suffering Bashkir police. Thus, the events in Blagoveshchensk received official support from the state.

Everything would be fine, only the events, according to witnesses, participants and victims, took place completely differently.

Local businessmen Oleg Kataev and Viktor Geroev are considered serious guys in Blagoveshchensk. A few years ago, Oleg retired from the police and went into business. I sold the car and brought the first automatic machine in the city, where you could try to pull out a toy for a snout. Gradually, the same as he, "private traders" began to nail to him. And there was a certain business pool.

“Now we are working all over Russia, doing everything we can,” says Oleg, “we kind of have a partnership here. Own slot machine club, shops, cafes. You see, everything we earn on the side is dragged into the city. They wanted to restore the city park - they banned it. Tried to clean the pond - do not give. Now there is a ready-made supermarket - they are not allowed to open it.

The testimonies of uninterested, including very authoritative parties, confirm that there was an old conflict between the head of the city, Anfas Nuretdinov, and a conditional group of entrepreneurs. It is believed that he acquired an open form after entrepreneurs brazenly displayed a portrait of a candidate with the wrong last name in the window of their cafe in the last election. The portrait was the only one in the city, but the fact itself is important, especially since the boorish attacks on the official authorities did not stop there.

In the summer, the businessmen opened their own newspaper called "Zerkalo" and use ridiculous arguments to justify it: they say that the local newspaper "Panorama" refuses to take advertisements from these entrepreneurs. Anfas Abdulovich (mayor) even went as far as the local media ministry demanding that the dangerous opposition publication that worries the people be shut down. However, a special examination did not find anything destructive in the leaflet, and the Mirror still continues to reflect the Annunciation reality. And, as the far-sighted mayor foresaw, it played its sinister role by publishing testimonies of beaten people.

It must be said that the entrepreneurs really did not understand the normal Russian language. It got to the point that the prosecutor of the city of Ismagilov - a man extremely sociable and even somewhere ingenuous - called one of the independent businessmen and openly asked why they were not helping the prosecutor's office. And he cited another city businessman as an example, who presented billiards to the prosecutors, explaining in an accessible way that rolling balls in the sauna is very helpful in solving serious crimes. And Kataev and his comrades for some reason continue to encircle the prosecutor's office ...

However, the entrepreneurs forgot to encircle not only the prosecutor's office, but also the police, and, it's even scary to say, Mayor Nuretdinov himself, who was completely exhausted with a poor budget. And the people in the city began to resent, inventing all sorts of fables: in particular, about the mayor's purchase of a jeep "Nisan Patrol" of the latest model. (After all, you can come up with something from hunger - in Moscow itself, these clunkers at a ridiculous price of 80 thousand dollars appeared only a couple of months ago.)

But businessmen, instead of supporting the state, regularly paid tribute to the local orphanage with food and equipment. It is clear why the local authorities had every reason to be offended by the arrogant "oligarchs". He needed a reason - and he soon introduced himself.

On December 8, Oleg Kataev, his pregnant wife and Viktor Geroev went outside from their own gambling establishment. On the street, another businessman, Rinat Ilanov, joined them. Eyewitnesses claim that there were no more than eight people at a nearby bus stop. Slightly to the side was a PPS UAZ, and next to it were three masked policemen (?!): sergeants Gasin, Chistyakov and Miftakhov. The policemen were, as they say, newcomers and simply didn't know well-known entrepreneurs in the city by sight - they asked to show documents.

Geroev did not have a passport with him, and he called his wife, a deputy of the local municipality, to bring it. This is where the unexpected happened. According to both victims and witnesses, the largest of the sergeants, presumably Miftakhov, shoved the pregnant woman in the chest, so much so that she fell. Kataev and Geroev stood up. Actually, this is where it all started. The policemen rushed to drag the businessmen away, and even handcuffed Geroyev. But his wife appeared, who, with a deputy certificate at the ready, rushed to the policemen. Enraged (presumably) Miftakhov grabbed a short woman by the scruff of the neck and dragged her into the UAZ.

It is not known how all this would end, fortunately, district major Fadeev drove by, and he began to reassure everyone. Presumably, Miftakhov was unhooked from the deputy, and his colleagues shoved him into the UAZ. And here the same investigator of the prosecutor's office Valiulin, called by the district police officer for some reason, enters the scene. In the presence of the prosecutor, everyone reconciles, apologizes and disperses in different directions.

It wasn’t there: presumably Miftakhov, who was no longer guarded, jumped out of the official UAZ and, shouting: “I’ll show you how to run into the police,” rushed in pursuit. Of course, the men, frightened for the pregnant woman, stood in the way of the ambal, and behind him his colleagues with the prosecutor hung on the raging policeman. Miftakhov violently resisted, trying to punch either Kataev or Geroev in the face, but by joint efforts the sergeant was dragged back into the car. And in principle, this incident was settled. Kataev and Geroev left on a business trip the next morning, and what was their surprise when on December 11 they were told what was happening in the city.

And I told about this mediocre brawl in such detail because this particular episode takes place in the case file as a mass beating of policemen. I specifically cite this picture in detail, compiled according to almost a dozen eyewitnesses, and give the names of the participants so that hundreds of people who were subsequently beaten and dozens of raped girls would know what was the reason for their personal humiliation and dishonor.

The next day the policemen came to the hospital. Chistyakov and Gasin complained of stomach pains, and the winner of the pregnant women presented his scrotum. However, the surgeon who palpated the sergeant's eggs did not find any damage, which he honestly wrote about in the medical history. Nevertheless, police words were enough to put the businessmen on the wanted list. (Remember, all you needed was a reason?)

And the deputy of the local police minister for investigation, General Smirnov, who arrived in the city, after a meeting with the head of the administration, decided to call the riot police. Moreover, the specified militia rank was present in the city all four days. (Unpleasant people, from the same category of slanderers, claim that Mr. General loves Blagoveshchensk in general - whether he likes the views, or local enterprises, it is not clear.)

If possible, an immediate assumption: the whole vaunted preventive operation began as an elementary settling of scores, which is confirmed by several dozen testimonies about how, during the bullying, the riot police said: “Do you know the owner of the Victoria (Kataev. - M.Kh.)? So tell him thank you…” Yes, and the cleanups at first concerned only the establishments of obstinate businessmen (they organized raids there several times).

Moreover, people in masks visited the homes of all the somehow authoritative city swindlers and, having rolled them into a cake, also conveyed a big hello from Kataev, lamenting that the city lads had completely disbanded the entrepreneurs.

It all started just like that. It ended with a Sabbath, when the whole city was simply given to the cops for several days "for fun."

How the cover was obtained - the protocols of "frank confessions", I have already told. They signed blank sheets after torture, without looking, just to escape. Here, in fact, from these clean protocols, "drawn up" on the basis of the results of "prevention" in the "dark" room, 280 administrative cases came from. Official forgery, open and in an incredible amount. And spit in my eyes if the judge who ruled on them did not understand that this was a complete fiction.

Even more cynically treated those who were taken behind the wheel of their own car. (Already when they began to smash the entire city.) The deputy head of the traffic police of the city of Dubrovinsky issued fines of 960 rubles for any violations to each and every one. And if someone refused to pay, a "dark" room was waiting for him. That is, extortion on behalf of the state can be added to official forgery, torture and abuse of authority.

But that's not all. There is a category of detained citizens who were not forced to sign empty protocols - minors. 17-year-old Sasha Guntarev was taken along with his friend Dima Kalinin. The day before, the guys quarreled, and Guntarev gave Dima a black eye. The police asked Kalinin where the bruise came from, and when he refused to answer, they took him to a “dark” room. I had to "stab".

A criminal case appeared immediately, and today the teenager Guntarev is officially charged under the article of the Criminal Code for beating him with a “blunt hard object”. And in the victorious police report published by the local media, this act is called "disclosure of a grave crime." At the same time, both teenagers had such blue priests that they still cannot go to the toilet without pain. The investigator who opened the case somehow did not notice this, as well as the fact that the minors were kept against the wall until late at night, and all this time the parents did not know where their children were. And the children really were at that moment beaten with blunt hard objects.

OMON raided the large village of Udelnye Duvani at night. At the disco, they took away and beat all the guys, then drove around the yards, in accordance with a certain list, which was compiled by the local district police officer Mukhametshin. The underage invalid Seryozha Antipin was taken away from the house (there were no adults): and the police officers, having broken down the door, dragged out the undressed and lame guy and put him into the bus. Having driven about five kilometers from the village, the riot police sorted out the minors and threw them to the side of the road. That night, the frost dropped to minus twenty, and the rest of the guys carried Antipin in their arms through the snowdrifts.

In addition to teenagers, there was another category of detainees who were not registered - girls. It must be said that the masked bastards were experienced - they tried to take exactly the village girls (who would rather die than report rape), and, according to eyewitnesses, they chose the prettiest, and only God knows how many of them were minors. However, later, having got used to it and became insolent as it should, the masks began to take away the girls caught by the ominous KamAZ on a deserted street, already in Blagoveshchensk.

On the first day, according to the testimony of those who stood in front of the duty officer of the police department, the village girls were forced to strip naked right in front of the riot police. At the same time, the investigator who searched the girls shouted at them:

— What kind of men are you! Have shame - turn away!

It's useless: OMON, laughing, openly discussed breasts and everything else, not embarrassed by hundreds of people standing at the wall. After a public search, the girls were taken to another room on the second floor. There is a claim that subsequently half a bucket of used condoms was taken out of there. And the people standing at the walls say that the riot police stood in line at the door, swearing at their colleagues who were detaining them - the hard workers had to rush to work.

According to eyewitnesses, all this happened in the presence of hundreds of detainees, in the presence of employees of the local police department.

In the following days, the girls were no longer dragged to the police department, they simply stuffed them into KamAZ and immediately took them to the school swimming pool. Beaten taxi drivers, whom the police chased for vodka, claim that the girls screamed in pain so much that they could even be heard on the street.

Police sources are modestly silent about this female category of “cleansed” Blagoveshchensk. It is understandable - not a single reasonable judge will squeeze this into the framework of administrative responsibility. And why: what girl will tell that she was raped by a crowd of militiamen brutalized with impunity? Who will protect her in sovereign Bashkiria?

Today, policemen and employees of the city administration walk around the apartments of beaten and raped people and, grinning in their faces, ask:

- Human rights activists will leave tomorrow, and you live here! Well, will you write applications?

However, about what happens in the city after the departure of the defenders of the Bashkir constitutional order - in the next part of my investigation. And now I want to say only one thing: the animals that raped the girls hoped that there were no traces and evidence left. However, I am willing to provide them. But only personally to Minister Nurgaliyev. The injured people are ready, under my guarantees, to tell the investigator, who will be assigned by Nurgaliyev, about what happened. The only thing left is for the minister to have the courage and decency to sort this out.