Where is Alexey Kozlov sitting or how much is caviar for political prisoners these days?

The story that businessman and “political prisoner” Alexey Kozlov, who is also the husband of journalist and prominent oppositionist Olga Romanova, received five years in the camps, became number one news on the front pages of newspapers and on the Internet. What's next?

And then the convicted Kozlov again found himself behind bars, and as before, he began to write letters when he was released, in fact continuing to write the “Butyrka blog” that had become famous throughout the country.

In one of these letters from Alexey Kozlov from the pre-trial detention center, which was immediately posted on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2473158847110&set=a.1421888326004.51608.1796599090&type=1&ref=nf ), the author writes with delight about the incredible improvement of the FSIN system and in particular the pre-trial detention center and convoy, which only happened thanks to... the works of Kozlov himself and his wife, journalist Olga Romanova. Moreover, all this is presented as a “victory over the system” won by Romanova and Kozlov, and as a result of their “titanic” struggle for reform of the FSIN.

If it weren’t for the four years that I myself spent in camps and detention centers, and if I didn’t know the real situation today, then maybe I would have believed it. And so - sorry! Nothing has changed in the Gulag system of the FSIN. What kind of “improvement”, what kind of “victory over the system”, what kind of “reform”?! Let hundreds of thousands of prisoners answer this, sitting in the harshest conditions of the Russian FSIN system, which Kozlov and Romanova allegedly defeated, and who do not have a wife who is a journalist and an opposition figure.

And the answer will be unequivocal: there is no “Romanov-Kozlov” victory over the system, which is still grinding down the fate of millions. And there are desperate lines from a man who is ready to write anything from dictation, just to survive comfortably in this very supposedly “overthrown” system.

So, where and with whom is “prominent political prisoner” Alexei Kozlov sitting, and how does he feel there? Judging by the statements of human rights activists and journalists who visited his cell, supported by my information from the inside, Alexey Kozlov is sitting in the most comfortable cell of pre-trial detention center No. 5. This is a nine-bed room with only five people, two large windows, a refrigerator, a plasma TV, a separate bathroom with cold and hot water, daily trips to the bathhouse, a gym and other pleasures, the existence of which tens of thousands of other Moscow residents do not even know. Alexey Kozlov “suffers” in the so-called “fives” in the pre-trial detention center - several superior cells on the fifth floor of the building (their numbers: 501, 502, 503, etc.).

How do I know this? And I know this well, because I was there. In January 2008, I was arrested on false charges (by the way, my victim is the same as Kozlov’s, ex-senator Slutsker) and placed in one of these cells (also, a little later, the deceased Sergei Magnitsky was also on the “five” ). Only businessmen and former government officials sat with me. And only later it turned out that being in special comfort is paid in a very, very unique way and, in most cases, does not depend on the “loudness” of your business or the amount of money your relatives have in the wild. Everything is much simpler and more cynical.

Of course, I cannot say anything about everyone who is there, but I will tell you, using my own example, about the conclusions I made. In the first few days after my arrest, an operational officer called me into a separate office and, without any hesitation, suggested: if I want to continue to be in a “good” cell with “A” grades, then I must sign a paper on cooperation with the operational department and authorities. That is, to become an ordinary informer, both in a pre-trial detention center and in future camp life. It was also necessary to sign another document stating that I undertake to fulfill all the demands (public and private) of the operational officers, including cooperation with the investigation, namely an admission of guilt. Naturally, I refused to sign anything or have anything to do with them.

Almost immediately after my refusal to cooperate with the operatives, I was taken to Butyrka, where I was placed in a common cell for 22 people, and subsequently in a special high-security unit, the so-called “thieves' protol.” Also, after refusing to cooperate with the detectives, I was repeatedly placed in a punishment cell and was eventually put on special registration as prone to disorganizing the work of the pre-trial detention center. And this so-called “disorganization streak” did not give me the opportunity to be released on parole a few years later. All documents are at my disposal and I am ready to provide them.

By the way, Sergei Magnitsky, also refusing to cooperate with the operatives and the investigation, was instantly transferred from the comfortable “five” to the terrible conditions, first of general overcrowded cells, and subsequently to Butyrka, which became fatal for him.

And one more fact: in 2011, I was transferred from the camp and again to pre-trial detention center-5, but on a different criminal case for “slander” against the investigator who led my first case. Subsequently, I was completely acquitted by the jury, who did not find any slander in my words about the falsification of the first case.

On the very first day of my “second” stay in pre-trial detention center No. 5, I was again asked to cooperate with the operational department, that is, to knock. I, of course, refused and was placed (despite a high-profile criminal case - for the first time in the history of Russia, a journalist is being tried by a jury for allegedly slandering an investigation) in completely ordinary 12-person cells - first 304, and then 212 and 214. There are no there were no refrigerators, no plasma TVs, no showers, and only twelve repeatedly convicted. In winter, the temperature dropped to plus five - we slept in shoes and down jackets, under two blankets. In summer, the temperature in the chamber was over 45 degrees.

Here is such a sad story about how many get to the coveted “A” - in conditions of increased comfort. I would like to make a reservation right away: in the fives there are several ordinary and cramped cells where “authoritative” prisoners are locked up, who can provoke a riot or hunger strike with their influence on other prisoners. But these cameras have a different numbering and they have nothing to do with Alexey Kozlov. Kozlov sits in a very comfortable part.

And for general development, I will provide official data on how the “system” provides the broad mass of convicts and prisoners who, unlike Kozlov, are not “titanic fighters” against the system, do not have wives who are journalists or oppositionists, and do not sit in the “A” » in special conditions. So, each prisoner in a pre-trial detention center cell has the very minimum set of basic necessities, the so-called “breech” - one set of not very good used bed linen, an aluminum mug, bowl, spoon, and those things that were on they were worn during the arrest. And another “scourge package” - a cheap toothbrush, a paste that smells like shoe polish, and a bar of soap of unknown origin. The gruel, which is delivered to the cells three times a day, is an exclusive thing that you will not find even in the station canteen on the outskirts. Water? Tap water. By the way, the state allocates as much as... 38 rubles 50 kopecks a day for food for everyone in a pre-trial detention center. Try to eat for this amount.

But the point here is not even about the conditions of detention in the FSIN system, and not about the fact that someone is bargaining for a preferential life or describing their merits in the “fight against the system,” while someone is rotting in overcrowded cells, without doctors and medicines. The fact is that incidents of torture and death in pre-trial detention centers continue and sometimes even become objects of publicity, ending up on the Internet and to journalists. Remember last year's story with the horrific torture of prisoners in the Irkutsk pre-trial detention center ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8GfQkEGiv8 ). And the fact that during the year 258 people died in pre-trial detention centers, and only 35 were released for health reasons. And much more. And someone has caviar on the table and a plasma TV gleams in the corner of the cell. And it shows how Olga Romanova and Alexey Kozlov “defeated the FSIN system. And it’s good there now.” Who's good?

And finally, I would like to quote the “opposition sufferer” himself, Alexei Kozlov, who tells about his past imprisonment in the so-called “big special” Butyrka, where there are several of the same luxury cells - with plasma TVs, showers, hot water, refrigerators etc. For special inmates - the same as in the "fives". So, Alexey Kozlov: “Everything is OK with us... We got up early in the morning, boiled eggs, cut them with a knife, and spread mayonnaise on top. The only thing we didn’t have time to do was get red caviar out of the refrigerator (a terrible ban here).”

P. S. I, of course, understand that any lack of freedom in itself is terrible and is psychological and physical pressure. I myself have gone through all the circles. But here the question arises: why is unfreedom different for everyone, but the articles of the criminal code are the same? Or is there something else going on here?