Olympic shooting rules

Before the elections to the Sochi City Assembly, the candidate was drilled in the eye, his opponents were removed from the registration, and the police sergeant shared his vision of the media law with the Novaya correspondent

On March 14, half of Sochi will go on vacation, go to the hospital, go on a business trip, go fishing, visit his mother-in-law and go abroad. In any case, such reasons are indicated by those wishing to vote early. In only one TEC of the Central District ...

On March 14, half of Sochi will go on vacation, go to the hospital, go on a business trip, go fishing, visit his mother-in-law and go abroad. In any case, such reasons are indicated by those wishing to vote early. In the TEC of the Central District of the city alone, more than 500 people vote every day. To prevent voters from writing nonsense in their applications, some agencies give out ready-made application forms that print in bold text five reasons why the law gives the right to early voting.

“The first reason is you…” a popular song sounds from somewhere when I go up to the third floor of the Khosta administration, where the TEC is located. Members of the commission with an advisory vote, Elena Zakaryan and Alina Romanenko, greet me with complaints that they spend nine hours a day standing up. They work for a candidate nominated by the Communist Party and say that the seats at the tables are given to United Russia. Early in the morning, in the premises of the commission, its chairman Hayk Khrishtakyan sits alone:

“Well, there are places for everyone,” he points to the empty tables. “We have everything according to the law, many applications for early voting are rejected by the commission.

And then we sit in the foyer with an observer from the opposition candidate, Robert Zakarian. We watch a funny video on his camera: voters are brought and taken away by Gazelles, including the car of the host administration, but, seeing Robert's camera, the voters cover their faces, run away and hide in the bushes. Mature solid people. There is also a voter’s confession in the video that a thousand rubles is paid for each “correct” vote. In the neighboring village of Kudepsta, there is a persistent rumor that the vote is allegedly paid by the deputy of the Sochi City Assembly Valery Podpovetny. I meet Podpovetny near the TEC and directly ask about the payment of votes. He runs past with a smile: "This information is not true."

In the meantime, the entire Sochi communication center is brought to the commission, and with applications already written. In front of me is a piece of paper that fell out of the pocket of one grandmother. This is a printout printed on the printer, where the candidates from United Russia are indicated. All this is reminiscent of last spring, when Sochi was shaking from the mayoral elections. The city is again lined with billboards with United Russia candidates, again their faces are decorated with shop windows and stalls.

“They don’t let others put up billboards,” says Anatoly Eroshenko, a confidant of one of the candidates. - My candidate contacted an advertising agency, but they said that he was not on the list that they sent them from somewhere.

There are embarrassing mistakes. Near the precinct commission, on Tonnelnaya Street, a plastic shield with a photograph of a United Russia member was screwed on at night - so as not to take all kinds of permits. In the darkness, the left eye was drilled into the photo, just under the inscription: "Save and preserve Sochi."

Now about 140 candidates are running for 50 mandates. It is impossible to give an exact number, because someone is always removed from registration - mostly communists and self-nominated candidates. The reasons are any. They took documents from Viktor Ryabtsev, they found a defect, but when he corrected it, the documents were no longer taken. Now the case will be considered by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Someone is looking for the truth from the president. On the morning of March 6, about a dozen people gather near his visiting reception at the Bocharov Ruchey residence. The removed candidate Maksim Zhosan is with them. Residents of Sochi bring a complaint to the president, in which they talk about the administrative resource and other violations of the law. I turn on the video camera and try to enter the reception room with the people. A man in civilian clothes jumps out to meet him, covering the lens with his hand, trying to take away the camera and demanding that the filmed material be removed. The counter where applications are accepted, one must think, is a secret strategic object. The man shouts that I "arranged a provocation" and in general I need to "look at myself in the mirror more often." A minute later, a police squad arrives. It turns out that my journalistic certificate with seals and signatures “does not correspond to a single state model” (although this does not exist in nature). Policeman Zelenkov asks to put the contents of the bag on the back seat of the police car. I ask you to invite witnesses and draw up a protocol. The topic of the search has been exhausted. But Sergeant Alexander Zhemchuzhny gives a long lecture on the media law, the essence of which is as follows: "The president's reception room is not a public place." According to the police, I am not a detainee, but I cannot leave either. After 40 minutes, someone calls them on their cell phone, and they let me go with an order not to shoot again. There really is no one to shoot, because the former candidate has already left. The conclusion is clear: with such a civilized government and legally savvy police, free democratic elections are inevitable.