A fairy tale for Vaska

On November 21, photojournalist Denis Sinyakov, who illuminated the Greenpeace campaign on the “Prirazlomnaya” on the instructions of Lenta.ru, came out of the St. Petersburg SIZO “Crosses” on the security of 2 million rubles. In prison, he spent two months and wrote a fairy tale for his three -year -old son.

Denis Sinyakov is met at the exit from the pre -trial detention center in St. Petersburg. November 21, 2013
My wife tried to explain to our son Vasily - in August he was three years old - where his dad is and what was happening to him. Of course, I did not tell him anything about journalism, but he knew about the ship and knew that dad went to save the white bears. I needed to tell him in a nutshell what happened to us all, and I began to write a fairy tale. Naturally, there is a struggle against evil in it, there is a troubadour, there is a green ship "Green Turtle" with captain-hero Pitt. There is, of course, the evil king is an elephant that suddenly turned into a black monster, sucking dirt from the bottom of the sea, because the king wants to make the world black. The sun disappeared, and people who miss the sun and the world of animals organize an expedition to see why suddenly black clouds become black on the horizon. There is also a polar sparrow - this is a real hero, whom the doctor Katya sheltered on the ship. He shows the way to this green ship "Green Turtle." And then all the heroes find themselves in the dark, in prison. But people build new ships, the same as this one, and swim on this black land. Trubadur sings, and in the end, love and music help to destroy the darkness. This is briefly.

I wrote this fairy tale in the Murmansk pre -trial detention center (Greenpisov’s Murmansk was then transported to St. Petersburg. - The New Times) at the moments when there was only one. Because it is very difficult to write letters when someone else is in the camera when the TV works and everyone is talking. Sometimes it was an early morning, sometimes night, sometimes my cellmate was taken to the IVS. I wrote it quite quickly, I did not have a lot of time to think, and therefore the plot sometimes breaks there, and it will probably be difficult for the child to keep track in some places.

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I was sure that sooner or later it would end, because you cannot blame people who are not guilty under such an article

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What happened to me these two months? Well, firstly, I immediately began to read Solzhenitsyn-“Cancer Corps” and “The First”: I took these books in the Murmansk Prison Library, it is very good, much better than the library in Crosses. I, of course, read Solzhenitsyn, but then I decided to re -read, and I was ashamed to compare my two months of conclusion with what the people he writes about. And it was also important for me to understand what people who, like me, journalist, should not have been arrested, were worried - a cook, a medic, a sailor.

Of course, I did not lose heart, but in some places it all looked sad and stupid. I was sure that sooner or later everything would end, because it is impossible to blame people with innocent, especially according to such a strict article. Nevertheless, this is Russia, there is no justice system.

At first there was a household disorder. I did not know how the prison lives, by what rules - and they are quite tough there. Then I began to consider my conclusion as an attempt to look inside myself, to understand myself. As Solzhenitsyn said, this is the best way to study myself with maximum external resistance and minimal internal - because I felt right. And inside himself did not hesitate.

Photo: Evgeny Feldman