In a beautiful atmosphere

Plato Lebedev was reduced by the sentence of to 9 years and 8 months. The fact that one of the defendants in the odious criminal case has already been in prison for almost a decade, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky may stay for two may not be taken into account. We saw how independently Russian legal proceedings are how the usual district court in the Arkhangelsk region can make its own decision, different from the opinion of the prosecutor's office. Some of my colleagues write so: regardless of the opinion of the prosecutor's office. As if in fact, in a situation with Lebedev’s verdict, the prosecutor’s office or court decisions.

Gennady Gudkov will not become a defendant in the criminal case - this is how the Investigative Committee decided. True, the opposition to the State Duma will not be a deputy of the State Duma - but this should not prevent us from believed in the independence of both the Russian investigative system and parliament. Here the deputies were indignant at the fact that their colleague violated the law - and kicked him away from the holy of the saints. And the Investigative Committee found no reason to pursue Gudkov. And the General Prosecutor's Office will check the Investigative Committee. So justice should work in a democratic country - fair and honestly.

Sometimes it seems that you find yourself a spectator of some monstrous performance, whose directors consider you for a complete idiot. You know very well that the decision to land Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, and the decision to reduce the deadline, and the decision to deprive the Gudkov’s mandate, and the decision on his criminal case - all this is made in one single office. Yes, of course, there are also clerks who can think about all this, give a variety of recommendations - but ultimately these clerks are not judges, not prosecutors, or even deputies. And they do not make decisions.

But I really want to think that you live if not in a normal country, then in a country, at least like normal, in a country where the court can make a decision, regardless of the opinion of the prosecutor's office. In a country where the prosecutor’s office can be guided by the Criminal Code, and not a call from Moscow. In a country where a parliamentary sabbath around the Gudkovo mandate can be at least a little shameful, even with the participation of the Bastrykin Ministry. And therefore, instead of talking about the essence of the events, we begin to seriously discuss court decisions and even rejoice that Lebedev will come out - if it comes out - a few months earlier, and the Gudkov will be unreasonable. Although there is little joy here. It would be better to think about what Lebedev spent the best years of his life in prison and how Gudkov could, without a court decision, deprived the mandate handed to him by voters. But these thoughts do not leave the fields either for discussions on legal topics, or for journalism of the fact. And we continue to simulate politics, economics, education, everything that could be and what is not.

The Russians are already so accustomed to this that they do not even notice tricks. Hundreds of thousands of people go to the streets of Moscow demanding to ensure honest elections, although in fact there are no longer no elections. Because the process in which only carefully selected and filtered parties participate, and only one of them has absolute admission to the controlled false television, has nothing to do with the elections - or rather, has the same as Khodorkovsky and Lebedev’s sentence. Elections are not to come and vote, and then count correctly. This is a constant process of political competition, illuminated by the media, which are a form of business and a means of information, and not an instrument of propaganda. It is impossible to demand an honest calculation when there is neither honest competition, nor honest life.

It is the misunderstanding of these things that are obvious to the world around the world that makes the Russian opposition helpless, and Russian society - marginalized. Not only the authorities live in the kingdom of the masks constantly replacing each other, but also citizens - even dissatisfied with the authorities - are constantly trying to discuss these shifts and understand what this meaningless carnival will bring them. Because if you refuse to discuss masks, you will have to recognize a simple thing: there is no justice, there is no parliamentarism, no media space - at least in its television hypostasis - there is even even more so. And the states - as a management system designed to work for citizens - is also not. There are only a few cabinets in which cards are mowing, masks are painted and laugh at those who perceive this game seriously.