Those who destroy the prison

Three months in the Moscow City Court is obvious “The case of“ mass riots on May 6, 2012 ”. Three times a week, the parents of the "Prisoners of Bolotnaya" come to support their children. What does it mean in modern Russia to be a mother or father of those who are judged for a political protest, ”found The New Times

Relatives of the “Prisoners of Bolotnaya” on the first day of the court hearings on the “Mass Massage case” in the Moscow City Court

 Ten young people, clinging to each other, stand in the glass cage-akvarium and try to make out their native faces, and several women in the corridor in front of the door of the judicial hall are waving their hands, hoping that the defendants will see them-this picture from the first meeting in the Moscow City Court, when it was listed behind closed doors, is still in front of the eyes: both on the other side-on the other side-on the other hand and on the other side. Beautiful, smiling people, more than a year separated from each other and during this time, which have become each other closer and more understandable.

Those who go through the “swamp case” were not familiar to the court. And in terms of views they are very different - there are leftists among them, there are holding right -handed views. The age of the defendants is from 20 to 52 years old (the youngest is Alexander Dukhanin, the older of all - Sergey Krivov).

They are united by a place and time of action: Bolotnaya Square, May 6, 2012. They went to this square in protest, outraged by fakes in the elections. Their parents were not at the rally, and before the arrest of their children were not very interested in politics. This is the case when "politics has come for them."

General trouble

Parents of the "Prisoners of Bolotnaya" are people with unlike life experience, from different social layers. The professions are diverse: Doctor of Historical Sciences, a former employee of the defense design bureau, a small entrepreneur, musician, accountant, a theoretical physicist, artist-artist, employee of the railway.

It is difficult to imagine that they someday ended up in the same space. Today they were united by a common misfortune. And new experience.

Among the public, which comes three times a week to hall No. 635 of the Mosgorsud appeal building - a pompous room where the walls are sheathed with wooden panels are decorated with portraits and statements of Russian and Western philosophers and lawyers - it is easy to distinguish the parents of the defendants. If you carefully monitor young people in the aquarium, then you can see with whom they exchange glances, to whom they give signs.

*Organization created in 2009 by journalist Olga Romanova, which united wives of arrested in "economic" articles.

“Swamp prisoners” are usually children from incomplete families. Therefore, mostly mothers go to the courts. They all know each other, met in the "Committee of May 6" - an organization that helps the defendants arranges support for support, pickets. This is a kind of “sitting Rus'”*, only for relatives in the “case of riots”. Artem Saveelova’s mother died a year before his arrest - his dad Viktor Ivanovich Savelov constantly goes to the court. Almost no meetings are missed by the parents of Alexei Polikhovich. Parents of Sasha Dukhanina live in Cyprus, they have never come to court. Masha Baronova’s parents died several years ago, with Stepan Zimin, mother died six months before his arrest, and his father teaches at the Volgograd university, he is a professor of history. His girlfriend Sasha is carrying to Stepan to prison.

For the right business

“Why should I be afraid now? They took away the most expensive from me! What can I do with me? Just put in a cage with his son ”-so Stella Anton, the mother of Denis Lutkevich , answers the question of how her life changed since in June 2012 they came to her apartment in Lobna, handcuffed her son and took it. For a whole year, she wore him to prison, begged for a date from the investigators, then the court began. The main result of the year for her, as for most “Parents of the Bolotnaya”, is a loss of fear.

Denis Lutskevich's mother Stella hopes for the quick liberation of her son

Stella is a high beautiful brunette. Such Business Woman, energetic, funny. She always willingly tells journalists about her son, performs at rallies in defense of the "Prisoners of Bolotnaya", stands in pickets. Stella graduated from the Civil Aviation Institute in Chisinau, worked for some time in her specialty, married, gave birth to her son, divorced her husband, left Denis to live with her grandmother, and when the financial crisis began, she went to work in Moscow. She rented a tent for the sale of flowers, a tent with meat in Lobne. Now she has a small grocery store in the north of Moscow. Stella complains that they increase rent every three months and it is not known whether to close this store and switch to something else.

“It seems to me that this year I have completely changed. However, like Denis in a pre -trial detention center, Stella continues. - He says that his worldview completely changed there. I began to be more interested in politics, listening to the “echo of Moscow”, read publications such as The New Times, “New Gazeta”. When you read all this, then from what is happening in the country, horror covers. Now we understand from our own experience what this means to be accused and know that you are innocent. I am sure that Denis and the rest of the guys will make prison experience smarter. The main thing is that they are not hardened when they are released. ”

Stella says that the first time when Denis was arrested, she tried not to talk about it, she called only his father to Ukraine. “By my naivety, I thought that my son would be released: they would understand that he was innocent. Gradually, I began to understand that not everything is so simple that this is a political order and that the court verdict does not depend on lawyers or on evidence of the innocence of the defendants. And then my neighbor died a son of the same age as Denis - 21 years old. And I decided: I have to control yourself, be funny, smile. Thank God I have Denis, and someday the day will come when I finally hug him. I went to court, saw him in a cage and thought: but he was sitting for a just cause, but it happens that children are sitting for drugs. ”

Stella shares all these suffered thoughts very calmly, sincerely, not pathetic at all. And then he smiles and switches to a conspiratorial tone: “You know, I accidentally found a fortuneteller in a notebook. She told me that Denis would be released when the elections were held. And the election is soon! "

Another life

Andrei Barabanova ’s mother, Tatyana Nikolaevna, is not at all like Stella Anton. A low modest woman with a short haircut. I raised my son alone, works as an accountant in a hotel. Before answering the question, she thinks for a long time, she wants to accurately express her thought so that she is correctly understood.

Tatyana Barabanova (left) and Katya (Andrey's girlfriend)

“On May 6, I was going to go to the rally, but that day I left somewhere. Now I regret - I could probably prevent the situation with Andrei, maybe they would not have been detained then. ” There were no repressed Barbanov family, Tatyana Nikolaevna recalls, her father’s cousin was imprisoned after the revolution, but for what - she certainly does not know. She was always interested in history, and when for the first time she came on a date to her son in Butyrka, she recalled the memoirs of some woman where she told how she went to her husband in the same Butyrka. It seems that nothing has changed since then: it is just as scary, humiliating, hopelessly, the same dull, swollen walls.

“For this year, I understood one very important thing for myself: today in our country it is impossible to remain indifferent to what is happening. Previously, I did not have such acquaintances who live not only their lives, but are interested in the lives of others, fight for others, try to change something in the country. I even stopped talking with friends who support Putin. I just have nothing to talk about with them, they are sitting in their swamp and seeing nothing around. I brought a petition to work in defense of “Swamp prisoners”, but my employees refused to sign it, they did not even bother to go online and find information about our guys. Their indifference simply kills me. I don’t talk to them anymore, I just greet it. ”

Her direct boss supports Tatyana Barabanova - she lets her go off the court once a week. “She is a believer and sympathizes with me,” says Barabanova. Tatyana Nikolaevna is trying not to think about what sentence can threaten her son: “I'm afraid to express any forecasts. In our country you often do not see a clearance. And on the other hand, who knows, maybe something will change for the better? "

One for all

Father Artem Saveelov is 64 years old. He has a gray shock of hair, from the whole appearance blows calm and optimism. Viktor Ivanovich, it seems, does not miss a single court session. Fortunately, work allows. He is a previous developer and adjuster of the S-300 air defense system, who had for twenty years in a closed KB, he spun the whole country: he traveled to military units, where he established and repaired them developed systems, and when the production of production was turned off and most employees fired, he left the design bureaus. Since then, he changed several places of work and today is engaged in the construction of houses in rural areas. At the trial, Savelov always sits on the right by the wall in the second row to see the son, who sits in the far from entering the hall-Akvarium.

Victor Savelov does not miss a single court session

“You will definitely write what I think about our court,” Viktor Savelov asks. - The goddess of justice Femis is portrayed with a bandage in front of her eyes, and I would insert two more gags into her ears. The judge in our process does not hear anything. Protection, for example, claims: this is white. The judge listens, is silent. The accusation objects: no, this is not white, a little grayish. As a result, the judge makes a decision in favor of the prosecution: yes, this is gray, closer to black, in no case white. At first I thought that in our case they would quickly figure it out, and now I look at the judge, I see in my eyes that she understands everything perfectly, but acts differently - simply because, like all the judges, she is a bonding person. ”

Savelov is generally very categorical in statements. “Swamp business” and everything that happens in the country is the result of where we went all these years, ”he says. - It began with Gorbachev, Yeltsin continued, and then Putin. All my life I worked for my homeland and for the state, and now we have a state in itself, and the Motherland itself. Previously, we were only deceived in the market, but now - everywhere. When I worked as the head of the installation department, I said to my subordinates: "I myself do not steal and I will not let you." I have been going on for five years in these trampled sneakers, and I feel good. ” Savelov admits that he always voted for the Communists, but not because he really likes Zyuganov, but because all the others are even worse.

In Soviet times, he was a warrior, talked tightly with the police, and when he worked at the design bureau, he often came across KGB officers. Perhaps that is why he easily communicated with the investigator who was conducting Artem's case. “I immediately realized that this is an ordinary person who was puffed up, but nothing to himself,” says Savelov Sr.. -During the break between the meetings of the Basmanny Court, as you stop it, he told me: “If we agree with you, then they will give my son two or three years, and if not, then he will sit for 8-10 years.” I answered him very hard and loudly for him: "Do you just like that for two or three years, do you want to stay for anything?" He blushed, turned pale and walked away. "

Savelov says that in the first days after the arrest, Artem was proposed to testify to Navalny and Udaltsov. Similar conversations without a lawyer with him were conducted by operatives and investigators in the IVS on Petrovka. Artem refused.

“The son did not betray anyone, and the other guys did not make a deal with his conscience. The stupidity of our leaders lies in the fact that, instead of giving our boys a kick in the ass and release to our boys in 15 days, they made wrestlers from them. Now we all must force power to give them a short time. And in a good way the guys need to be released, and they must be fought for their liberation. ”

Mother Vorobyikha

A white linen dress, a gray vest, a thread of white pearl pearls and pearl earrings, sandals on the platform - Natalya Nikolaevna Caucasian is always very elegantly dressed. So the artists or musicians dress. Caucasian is a music teacher. She graduated from the Gnesin Institute in 1981. She met her husband-contract when she worked on the radio in the musical editorial office, and he played in the Fedoseeva orchestra. Parents really wanted Nikolai to become a musician. He graduated from a music school in the class of cello, but when his parents realized that the musical career would not make his son happy, they did not insist. Nikolai went to legal.

“We were never particularly interested in politics,” admits Natalya Caucasian. - They went to the polls, voted, like a son: for parliamentary - for the "apple", on the presidential - against all. " But politics never occupied a large place in their life, it was more important to them spiritual life.

** Vaishnavism, or Vishnuism is one of the main directions of Hinduism, the distinctive feature of which is the worship of the god Vishnu, as well as Krishna and Rama.

Natalya Nikolaevna shows photos of her pilgrimage to India, where she went with her husband and son. “We are followers of Vaishnavism **,” she explains. - We follow certain principles: non -violence, purity, truthfulness. These are the same principles as in Christianity, but in Vaishnavism I was attracted by the fact that people not just declare these principles, they follow them. ”

On the eve of the arrest of her son, Natalia had a dream: she enters his room, and the room is empty. She understands that Nikolai will not be at home for a very long time. In a dream, she seemed to report two strange numbers - 3 and 8. The next day, when her son was arrested, the Caucasian asked the investigator what time he threatens. He replied: "From 3 to 8 years."

On August 2, the Presidium of the Moscow City Court replaced Nicholas Caucasian in custody of house arrest. The lawyers of the other “Prisoners of Bolotnaya” repeatedly asked for their clients about the same, but nobody except Caucasian, did not let go of house arrest. The activist of the “Committee of May 6” Maria Arkhipova says that Natalya Caucasian is an amazingly strong woman, she literally pulled her son out of prison. When asked whether this is so, the Caucasian does not say neither and no, but tells the parable of the sparrow, which she once read in one of the Krishna books.

Nikolai Caucasian with mother Natalia in India

“The ocean dragged the eggs demolished by Sparrow. She prayed and asked him to give her future cubs. But the ocean only laughed, and then she said: "I will drink you." Sparrow arrived every day and drank a little bit. Everyone laughed at her. But once a huge bird of Garuda flew, which wears the Lord Vishnu on its wings. This bird told the ocean: "If you do not return the sparrows of its future chicks, then I will drink you." The ocean was scared and gave the chicks. The moral of the parable: God helps someone who helps Himself. ”

Natalya Kavkazskaya admits: at some point she realized that she had to fight a repressive machine that absorbed her son should act. “Of course, what is happening to us now, there is a certain similarity with 1937 and with Brezhnev time, when the dissidents were persecuted,” says Caucasian. - Today they judge young Russia - honest, fair, noble. But unlike the 30s, we know that we are not alone. There are many people who support us, there is civil society. I myself try to actively participate in the work of the “Committee of May 6”, because when you help others, they help you. When Nikolai was released, other mothers rejoiced for us. We are one family, and we all really want Volodya Akimenkov, because he will blindly. ”

Banner on the balcony

The story of Ksenia Kosenko, a specialist in marketing and advertising in the metropolitan commercial organization, is another story of overcoming fear. “I'm not afraid of anything now,” she says. “Previously, it never occurred to me to go to the rally, but now I don’t just go there - I am there.”

Ksenia is the older sister of Mikhail Kosenko , the trial in respect of which takes place in the Zamoskvoretsky court and has been going on for ten months. Judge Moskalenko never gave her sister permission to date with her brother, despite the fact that Ksenia is his legal representative in court. Mikhail sits in the psychiatric department of Butyrka prison. Mom and mother have not seen her son for more than a year, and now she is very difficult - the kidneys refused, a couple of weeks ago, Ksenia took her from the hospital home and says that the forecasts of doctors are the most unfavorable.

The judge does not give Ksenia Kosenko a date with her brother

Mom Nina Vasilievna is 66 years old, she is an artist-miftwick. Six years ago, after the death of her husband, she went to live in a village in the Kursk region. Ksenia and his son and brother remained to live in a parental apartment on the Kashirsky highway. It was not customary to talk about politics in the family. They voted for the Communists in the elections. And on the last presidential - for Prokhorov.

“Two weeks ago, I went to the headquarters of Navalny, concluded an agreement with them and hung it on my balcony on the second floor of a banner in support of Navalny,” says Ksenia. — Как-то вечером я вышла на балкон покурить, смотрю, сотрудники ЖЭКа, люди восточного типа, подбираются к моему балкону и говорят, что собираются мой баннер снять. Я их прогнала и позвонила в полицию. Потом отнесла заявление участковому, показала ему договор со штабом Навального. Он развел руками, впервые сталкивается с подобной ситуацией. А баннер так на моем балконе и висит. Сын наклеил на машину красные стикеры с фамилией «Навальный» и раздал ребятам на автомойке. До ареста Миши я ничего подобного не могла бы себе представить. Никогда не думала, что буду так активно поддерживать оппозицию».

На следующей неделе родственники «узников Болотной» снова встретятся в суде. Будут смотреть на своих близких, внимательно слушать судью, адвокатов. И думать о том, как разрушить тюрьму…

 фотография: Ксения Жихарева, Евгений Фельдман, Артем Сизов, Игорь Старков, из семейного архива