FSB fiasco?

In early June, a sentence will be passed on the teacher who stood up for the orphans in Chudovo.

On May 20, the Chudovsky District Court completed the judicial investigation into the case against Svetlana Vasilyeva, a history teacher who taught children in a village school all her life, and closer to retirement, unexpectedly became the head of the district education committee in Chudov (a town in the Novgorod region with a population of 16 thousand people) .

She is being tried for a small feat, which FSB investigators turned into an “official forgery.” Let us remind you: with wild budgetary poverty, Vasilyeva managed to buy apartments for 14 Chudovsky orphans. I didn’t spend a single extra penny from the treasury on this. She did not receive any awards, certificates, or even praise. The new residents moved into their home on time and everyone, without exception, is happy about it. However, the special services today accuse Svetlana Valerievna of a crime against state power.

This absurd case, as Novaya already reported , was born in the FSB department of the Novgorod region in March 2012. In a year and a half it grew to ten volumes. Although the essence of the “crime” is insignificant.

According to the investigation, at the time when Chudov officials signed acts of acceptance and transfer of apartments for 14 orphans (December 15, 2011), accepted the buildings and transferred the money, “two residential premises in the house - the apartments of Natalya Lunina and Vladimir Kudasov - were available for living unsuitable." Lunina and Kudasov themselves do not think so. They did not recognize themselves as victims.

The whole “unsuitability” was that in one of the apartments the wallpaper had to be re-glued, and in the other the wallpaper had to be re-glued, and the developer did this in a short time. All 14 orphans are happy with their housing. There is no talk of any material damage in this story either. However, in July 2013, Svetlana Vasilyeva was charged with a crime under Art. 292 part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Official forgery”. And in September last year the case was brought to court.

The indictment stated: the defendant “undermined the authority and prestige of state power,” “acting deliberately, out of personal interest,” “out of personal motives caused by the desire for career growth.” However, neither “personal interest” nor “desire for career growth” could be proven in court. Vasilyeva did not commit any forgery - she simply could not commit it. There was no benefit - there was no way I could have it. Wrong situation, wrong powers, wrong position. Even if you remain silent about the fact that you are the wrong person.

“I just signed the act of acceptance and transfer of apartments from the developer to the customer,” Svetlana Valerievna emphasizes, “I didn’t prepare it, didn’t add anything anywhere, didn’t correct it, didn’t add anything to it, as they accused me of.” I signed because all the necessary documents were submitted with the signatures of all responsible persons. I did not have the slightest reason to doubt the reliability of the documents or the competence of the specialists. I myself am not a professional in the construction industry. Even if I had noticed some “shortcomings,” I’m not sure that I would have perceived them as an obstacle to acceptance. The acts were signed at the end of December. The year was ending. It was necessary to accept the objects and pay. Money for housing for orphans comes from subventions from the regional and federal budgets. They are allocated for a specific period. If we had not spent the funds received in 2011, they would have had to be returned back to the budget. They would never return back to the area. We would terminate the contracts at the final stage. We lost our apartments. The only thing I was afraid of was leaving orphans without housing.

Vasilyeva did not admit her guilt.

On April 15, the judicial investigation into the case was completed (for the first time). Judge Tatyana Utkina set Vasilyeva’s sentencing date as April 23. But on the same day, at the request of the prosecution, the judicial investigation into the case was resumed. Assistant Prosecutor of the Novgorod Region Sergei Ilyin suddenly remembered that it was necessary to summon to court and interrogate two new witnesses - FSB officers who had not been interrogated before, and also “you need to consult with your superiors about the position of the prosecution.”

As a result, the process continued for another month. During this time, several witnesses were re-interrogated in court, but not a single new one, especially from the intelligence services. The prosecution also did not present any new evidence. The meaning of the extension, from a formal point of view, is not clear. In fact, since April - since the process has been closely followed by regional and federal media - it has become public and resonant. The resonance is also evidenced by the fact that after publications in the press, an appeal from the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation was sent to the court. This letter in defense of Svetlana Vasilyeva was also added to the case materials on May 20.

A ridiculous decision on a ridiculous charge is no longer so easy to give birth. And the acquittal in a high-profile case of corruption, allegedly uncovered by the special services, is an admission of a fiasco by the FSB. What decision Judge Utkina will make in such a situation will become known soon. On May 27, repeated arguments will take place in the Chudovsky District Court, and in early June the verdict will be handed down to Svetlana Vasilyeva.

Appeal from the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

The pedagogical community is extremely alarmed by the situation with our colleague, the chairman of the Education Committee of the administration of the Chudovsky municipal district of the Novgorod region. The very fact of initiating a criminal case against the administrator, who used targeted funds to solve the serious problem of providing apartments to graduates of orphanages, causes our deep bewilderment. It is unnecessary to remind how difficult this problem is to solve even in large cities, where orphans, leaving government institutions, spend years seeking to ensure their constitutional right to housing, receiving formal replies from officials. In this particular case, Vasilyeva S.V. was not afraid to take responsibility in solving a pressing social problem.

Currently, there is a trial in the case of Vasilyeva S.V., which has attracted the attention of the general public of the country, as evidenced by publications in the media and numerous appeals to members of the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. Thus, the case of Vasilyeva S.V. can be considered resonant. Teachers and managers of the education system of the Russian Federation are following the progress of the trial with alarm.

We do not have the right to give a legal assessment of the actions of Vasilyeva S.V., but we express moral support to our colleague, Chairman of the Education Committee Vasilyeva S.V.

We are convinced that good deeds should not be punished. This is the unified position of the entire Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

Please attach this appeal to the case being considered in court.