February 21. Sentence

I hate going to the courts for sentencing. But on February 21 I will go to the Zamoskvoretsky District Court. The hall where the “prisoners of Bolotnaya” are tried is very small. I, of course, will not get there, like many relatives of the defendants. The judges did not bother to do the smallest thing they were asked to do: move the announcement of the verdict to the Moscow City Court, where there are larger halls than in the Zamoskvoretsky Court, where about thirty spectators can hardly fit in the largest hall.

I hate going to the courts for sentencing. Every time the judge reads out his decision - the flesh of the flesh indictment, sometimes not even bothering to swap sentences - every time you realize that you have already heard this text at the beginning of the trial, you feel a sense of shame and disgust. It seems as if slop was poured on your head, and hot water was turned off in the house ...

After all, following the court hearings and listening to the witnesses, you know that in reality everything was not at all the way it was written in the indictment.

The “Bolotnoe case” is just the case when everything was 100% different from what was in the indictment. I was on May 6, 2012 at Bolotnaya Square and I remember how it all really was.

Now, when a civil war is unfolding in Kiev and we know what real “mass riots” are, it is impossible in sound mind and solid memory to admit that the eight people who will be sentenced tomorrow are involved in any real “mass riots”. They are also not involved in the beating of policemen: these policemen are in good health and, judging by their testimony in court, they do not “thirst for blood” at all.

Who then "thirsts for blood"? Who benefits from Judge Natalya Nikishina sentencing the Bolotniks to real terms of punishment? Is it beneficial for the security forces who conducted the case, the prosecutors, who demanded five to six years in prison for the defendants?

We know perfectly well that the verdict was agreed and written taking into account the requirements of the “current moment”. We know very well that from a legal point of view, the judge has the opportunity to save face and limit himself to suspended sentences. But my instinct tells me: the terms written in the verdict will not differ much from what the state prosecution requested.

Before my eyes are six young guys and a middle-aged man in glasses, locked in a cage, as well as a young girl with an electronic bracelet on her leg. Prosecutors asked for six years in prison for her. I don’t want to think at all and imagine how parents, wives and relatives will perceive the real terms to which Judge Nikishina can sentence them tomorrow, or next week, if suddenly the announcement of the verdict is delayed, which is unlikely. I don’t want to think at all about how they will collect camp trunks with parcels when they go on a date. I don't want to think about how mothers and wives will be subjected to humiliating searches before entering the visiting room.

At the very beginning of the "bog trial" there were twelve defendants (four left under the December amnesty). But those who remained are not amnestied even under one article, which they are charged with. The resolution on amnesty for the 20th anniversary of the Constitution, adopted by the State Duma, is flawed in essence: after all, those who were accused of participating in mass riots were released, while those who, in addition to this article, were charged with another article, did not fall under the amnesty.

That is, Aleksey Polikhovich, Yaroslav Belousov, Andrei Barabanov, Denis Lutskevich, Stepan Zimin, Sergei Krivov and Artem Savelov, who, in addition to participating in "mass riots", according to prosecutors, are also guilty of using violence against police officers, from responsibility for "riots" are not exempt!

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, breaking almost a month of silence, called for the support of the defendants in the Bolotnaya case.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina made a video with a song about their support. This is the solidarity of a prisoner, those who know what support from the outside is and what prison loneliness is. They testify: “Believe me, your presence at both trials on Yukos and your tireless interest during all ten plus years helped me and Platon Lebedev a lot. The manifestation of solidarity is necessary not only for those who are behind bars, but also for us,” writes Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Well, we came to the verdict against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, the verdict against Pussy Riot, the verdict against Alexei Kozlov, Alexei Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov. We will also come to the verdict to the “bogmen”.

Going to verdicts is probably the least of what we know how to do. But with each such unjust and senselessly cruel sentence, a critical mass accumulates.

And woe to us all when patience comes to an end.