“Diamond” in the crown of the Moscow opposition?

Street musician Sergei Khavsky was fined as the organizer of an illegal rally for playing the guitar

Public defenders of street musician Sergei Khavsky, nicknamed Diamond (“Diamond”), promise to file an appeal against the verdict of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow today, July 25. Earlier, on July 17, Judge Alesya Orekhova sentenced Khavsky to a fine of 10,000 rubles for organizing an “unauthorized rally” that “obstructed the passage of citizens” in the area of Nikolskaya Street in central Moscow. Khavsky's defenders assure that there was no rally - Sergey Diamond just played the guitar.

_Article 20.2 (Violation of the established procedure for organizing or holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession or picketing), has recently become "native" for participants in protest rallies and actions. According to it, Sergei Khavsky, his guitar and amplifier, were also sentenced to a fine.

“On July 10, I just played the guitar on Nikolskaya,” Khavsky seemed to justify himself to the Novaya correspondent. “Ten people definitely won’t gather during the day to stand and listen for a long time. There weren't that many listeners. Yes, some approached, thanked, praised, but I did not interfere with anyone.

Already at the police station, it turned out that he still interfered with the woman, who complained to the police about the music and the noisy crowd.

The police did not stand on ceremony, but immediately took the musician away.

“Usually they warn, they say: you can’t play here, I’m leaving right away, but this time it was not like that,” Sergey Diamond recalled.

None of the listeners, who would later be said to have taken part in Khavsky's rally, stood up for the musician, although, Sergey says, often "those who like the game so much do it," says Sergey.

In Khavsky’s department, they processed the information: they promised that the fine would not exceed two thousand, and therefore there is nothing, they say, to go broke on lawyers. On July 17, Sergey appeared in court, and it already turned out that he, his guitar and amplifier owed the state not two or three, but ten thousand rubles.

- They (Court - Ed. ) were very little interested in what playing on the street is, how we work with people. "Tell the merits" - and that's it! Where did he come, when, why, what did he do, - Sergey Khavsky recalls the circumstances of the meeting.

His arguments that there were much fewer listeners than indicated in the police report were considered unfounded by the court. When passing the verdict, Judge Orekhova, as stated in the ruling, took into account the "nature and degree of public danger" and "the personality of the perpetrator." Orekhova was guided by the testimony of that conscientious woman who called the police, and also took into account the report of the police, which spoke of a crowd "in the amount of at least 10 people", which, without proper notification, was "organized" by the illegal citizen Khavsky to the executive authorities.

Sergey still cannot try on the role that the court assigned him in the verdict. Quote: "... organized a massive simultaneous stay of citizens in a public place, which is not a public event, thereby creating obstacles to the movement of pedestrians and citizens' access to social infrastructure."

- I played, the people walked by! What are my organizational and administrative functions!?, - Khavsky is indignant, without noticing it, switching to the clumsy language of protocols.

The musician's friends - the same as him - volunteered to help Khavsky appeal against the unfair, in their opinion, court decision. Not even so much in order to return the money, but in order not to end up in Sergey's place later. The case can become a sad precedent: who will prevent compassionate citizens from continuing to appoint any group of people on the street as oppositionists, especially with a guitar?

Having learned about the case from social networks, lawyer Violetta Volkova, well-known in the Pussy Riot case and the “bog trial”, volunteered to help the musician.

“The situation is actually absurd,” she told Novaya Gazeta. - The street musician really did not violate anything and did not organize anything, he did not specially gather the audience, but stood and played calm music. It was not he who presented unfounded arguments, but just the police and the court. After all, it is also possible to fine any citizens in general who “obstruct the passage”! It's just a mistake and the police and the judges. I hope we can appeal the decision.

Oleg Mokryakov, Khavsky's friend, has been playing on the street himself for more than twenty years. Thanks to his message on social networks, the story of Sergei's transformation from a musician into a malicious opposition leader became widely known. Mokryakov is sure that the musicians should respond to the lawlessness with a rally of solidarity. Previously, they could not even think of such political activity, but now circumstances oblige.

- We are considering holding a big street action, a picket or a rally, as we realized that lawlessness worries everyone. Previously, we were scolded for using sound amplifiers, now they are accused of organizing illegal mass events, we must answer,” says Oleg.

Valeria KUTs