Drug-free city: violence for good?

After what was happening around Evgeniy Roizman and the Drug-Free City Foundation, somehow acutely, once again, the question arose about what methods and how the Foundation’s employees work. Among the public, opinions were divided from full and unconditional support, protection from “attacks” by law enforcement officers, to silent, indifferent approval.

An Open Letter from the Open Society JLLC is being distributed in Yekaterinburg, here is its text (spelling and syntax preserved):

Violence for good?

An open letter to the defenders of the Drug Free City Foundation

“I went into quarantine and was immediately put on shkonar. You can't move there, you can't sit down, you can only lie down. The handcuffs were removed, of course, but the essence remained. They can “put you on bindings” - tear rags into large strips and tie them to your arms and legs. On the very first day I saw how one guy wanted to hang himself - he tightened the rope into a short loop. You can only go to the toilet according to a schedule; if someone couldn’t stand it and went to the toilet, everyone starts to look down on him. They also frown upon those about whom there are rumors that they were fags before the center or “distinguished themselves” in some other way, they don’t eat from the same dishes with them, and in general they try not to appear near “roosters.” You are nobody, you are a “scum”, you are simply bullied harshly until you establish yourself in the team. The status of “Keymaker” or “Opera” needs to be earned. “Opera” are those who are trying to find out the names of the hucksters, period, from those in the center. There are even “senior operators”; a friend of mine became one, he was in charge of procurement. Among them there are normal people, but rarely, and it happens that a normal person is normal, and then suddenly he starts fucking for no reason, you don’t even understand what they want from you. In short, everything is the same as in the zone, maybe even cooler. The officers are told little information, they say at least something insignificant so that they don’t beat them...
…Parents mostly send people to the center; some come themselves. The family needs to pay 5,000 rubles for the capture and delivery, rehabilitation can be simple for 8,000 a month and “covered” for 10,000 - this is when they close you tightly, don’t let you out at all, and your relatives don’t come to see you. They are taking a break from you. You can order “delivery” from city to city, it will cost from 150 to 300 thousand if we are talking about St. Petersburg and Moscow. No one will fight, they’ll take you by car, it’s scary to object to something. In general, everything works smoothly there, they get all the money, they save money for us. On food, for example. The food became better compared to what they had told us before; they began to give us porridge, whereas before we only had onions, bread and water. Those in quarantine are still only given bread and water. You will grab any job, go to any sabbath offered, because this is a chance to forget, eat more, communicate, take a sip of fresh air. Then the addict returns home, he seems to have been doing sports in the center, he started eating normally, but he just eats away like that. He ate enough and again for a dose, such a vicious circle, within 2 weeks he will return to the center, his parents will send him back. We had about 140 people, about 80 of them were not the first time... During quarantine you can wash and shave only once a week, they send photos to your parents, how washed and calm you have become. After quarantine, I was sent to some girl’s room, she sits and says that I need to sign some papers, I don’t even understand what they are. I said that I wouldn’t, then she called “Box”, this is the guy who walks through the door sideways, healthy. He came in, stood over me, I realized that it would be worse if I rocked the boat and signed everything. What exactly I signed, I no longer delved into. (Let me remind you that drug addicts are allowed to sign a consent for voluntary restriction of freedom; this is what the former rehabilitator of the GBN center is most likely talking about). After 2 weeks of quarantine, the elders determine who you will be - a “floor polisher” or a “doer of laundry.” They will completely break you there if the quarantine wasn’t enough. “Polisher” is a snoop who monitors everything, especially cleanliness; if a speck of dust is found somewhere, if the item is not sent for washing, they are immediately forced to squat. “Wash” is even worse, he must know every thing in the barracks and treat him like a s***. So I was “doing the laundry” - watching over the cleaning of everyone’s things. For me, it was a blessing to go and do some squats, just so as not to get punished for some kind of mistakes, I sat and bit my nails, I was afraid of getting p****d. I remember getting hit hard for sneakers once. There in the center in front of the “washing room” there is a “dryer”. The elders take off their shoes in the “washing room” and they must be immediately taken to the “dryer”. I found the elder’s shoes in the “dryer”, and the elder says that he did not take them to the “washing room”, but left them in the ward. They broke me so much because I took these shoes, damn it, they yelled at me that I was going to escape... I know that there were people who were generally punished harshly, I had a friend who ran away, he was caught and for this I was given a log from *****. There, no one will be taken to the hospital until the last minute, the guys are serious, they figure it out themselves. But many of the boys stay to work there, no matter what, they all go through humiliation and violence, but for them it’s “purification.”

We have heard similar confessions of drug addicts about their stay in the well-known Drug-Free City Foundation more than once (we have been working in the civilian anti-drug sector for a long time), they can be easily found on the Internet. There you can also find information about Mr. Roizman’s closest associate, Maxim Kurchak, who was convicted for his active assistance to drug addicts in social rehabilitation under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
In this regard, we have always had associations with the order in the zone and the situation in the Stalinist camps, but dear gentlemen M. Prokhorov M. Weller, Russian human rights activists, the majority of liberal media and the general liberal public for some reason associate such activities with the protection of drug addicts and salvation nation.
Dear defenders of Mr. Roizman, imagine for a moment that all this is happening in an organization created and funded by the state. I think there would be no limit to your indignation, because such treatment of people cannot have any other purpose than to undermine all self-respect and teach a person to meekly submit to coercion and violence. Why, as performed by E. Roizman, does this well-known technology for breaking human dignity cause you delight and seems to be the only possible “treatment for drug addiction”? Because drug addicts are not people to you? Or are all means good for fighting government officials today? Or do you think that violence, when creatively performed by opposition sympathizers, is an undoubted good?
We have been working in the civil sector for many years, have more than once defended the interests of other NGOs in conflicts with government and law enforcement agencies, and we are well aware of the danger of suppression of the civil sector in Russia.
However, it seems to us that no less dangerous is the replacement of real democracy and liberalism with a fight against the state, which sacrifices the culture of respect for human dignity. However, to human dignity, it seems. Few people care anymore outside of those rehabilitation centers that try to give people a chance to recover in a safe environment of support and respect.
For us, the political defense of the Drug-Free City Foundation is, first of all, the propaganda of violence and legal nihilism that is destroying the country.
We should not forget that today there are hundreds of organizations (often networked) operating in the country engaged in the social rehabilitation of people who find themselves in difficult life situations. We don’t understand why the liberals’ banner is becoming a “Drug-Free City,” which stands out among others for its level of violence and well-organized work with the general public and the media.
We are against the “Drug-Free City” because we are against violence and humiliation of people, no matter who these people are and no matter what life situation they find themselves in.

JLLC "Open Society"

The question posed by the authors is simple: can a good goal justify the means by which it is achieved? The criminal style and violence that have become the hallmark of the Foundation allow us to talk about the liberalism and opposition of Roizman, who either joins Prokhorov or writes appeals to the President of Russia.

I think that the authors are right; in many respects, like a certain part of human rights activists, I share the opinion of the authors. Violence cannot be used for good! What is surprising is the belated attention to the Foundation, as if its “phenomenon” appeared only now, after criminal cases and searches were initiated. There was a problem, apparently, there was no reason...

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