Special operation at the Tula station

How 9 people detained one correspondent

To the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, the correspondent of the political department Litoy A.L. Service note On Sunday afternoon, August 8, 2010, at the Tula railway station, I was detained by police officers who took me off the train ...

To the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, the correspondent of the political department Litoy A.L.

memo

On Sunday, in the afternoon, August 8, 2010, at the Tula railway station, I was detained by police officers, who removed me from the Sevastopol-Moscow train and took me to the city of Khimki, Moscow Region. The detention was carried out by 4 people in civilian clothes, who did not introduce themselves and did not show any summons to summon me for interrogation or an arrest warrant; and 5 people in uniform - apparently, employees of the LOVD on the railway transport. The “civilians,” as I later guessed, were operatives from the Center for Combating Extremism of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Moscow Region.

Interest in myself from the side of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of the Moscow Region, I felt in full measure back in the spring of this year. Then an immediate response group arrived at my house, armed with machine guns, led by a major of the local criminal investigation department. Without any papers and reasons, they took me to the city police department (I am registered in Troitsk). A man of 40-50 years old who did not introduce himself (as it turned out later, an employee of the regional center "E" from Ramenskoye) said that for some reason I was listed in their database as an active participant in the Antifa movement. I had to explain that I did not belong to any political group, that I was a Novaya Gazeta journalist writing on political topics, including informal youth movements. The Ramensky anti-extremist apologized, and we said goodbye to him. I even left him my mobile number in case I had any more questions.

When there was a protest action near the city administration building in Khimki, I was going to the train: I was going on vacation. As soon as I reached Ukraine, I received an SMS from my mother: the policemen came again and asked if I had anything to do with the events in Khimki. They were told that I was on vacation outside of Russia. Those who came did not leave any summons to be summoned for interrogation, or even a telephone for communication.

And now - Tula, the railway station, people in uniform and in civilian clothes in my compartment. None of them introduced themselves, showed no documents, only informed that they would take me to Khimki for a “talk”. Realizing that these actions are illegal, I decided not to resist. The men in uniform remained at the station, four "civilians" escorted me to a black Mercedes. If they had not treated me politely and unkindly, prevented calls and helped carry things, I might have been worried about my kidnapping. The journalists who called me while I was on the road said that the Khimki policemen said that one of the leaders of Antifa was being brought to them, and not a journalist from Novaya Gazeta.

Two and a half hours later, we arrived at the building of the former Organized Crime Control Department - Prospekt Mira in the city of Khimki. Two investigators arrived a little later, only then it turned out that this was an interrogation as a witness. The investigators, as far as I understood, did not plan to carry out any investigative actions at all today, and my bringing to them was also a big and unpleasant (after all, a day off) surprise. I didn’t see any order from the investigator to bring me in, and before that I didn’t receive any summons for interrogation, they didn’t even call me.

When the lawyer and deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta arrived at the UBOP building, any verbal pressure on me ceased in principle. The interrogation lasted about an hour: they asked if I was in Khimki during the action, if I knew those who organized it. In the interrogation protocol, the lawyer entered a remark about the illegal actions of the operatives, to which the investigators said: they did not decide how the detention should take place. Nobody apologized.

Resolution on memo:

“To the legal service: 1) prepare a complaint to the prosecutor's office against the actions of employees of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Moscow Region with a demand to conduct an audit and initiate a criminal case on the fact of abuse of office; 2) prepare a lawsuit against the leadership of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Moscow Region demanding compensation for moral damage.

Editorial Board of Novaya Gazeta