FSB flag in captivity

In Kaliningrad, a case is being prepared for the transfer to the court to hook the German flag on the FSB building on March 11, 2014, the defendants of which were three opposition activists. All of them are charged with Art. 213 of the Criminal Code (“hooliganism”), since April they have been in jail and have already received the status of “flag prisoners” among the local opposition. Hexogen also appears in the case, he was found in the backpack of one of the accused; The case claims that the explosives were thrown.

Humiliated the political guidelines of citizens

The Kaliningrad activist Mikhail Feldman was detained at the regional department of the FSB at 7:30 in the morning of March 11, 2014. At this time, the FRG flag fluttered on the facade flagpole, and Feldman shot it on the camera. There are two more activists-25-year-old Kaliningrada Oleg Savvin and 25-year-old Muscovite Dmitry Fonarev, the police stopped at the moment when they were heading towards the railway station. All three were arrested for petty hooliganism and obscene abuse in a public place and sent to a special receiver.

For the time of the detention, Feldman and Savvin were in the local committee of public self -defense ( KOSTA ) and took part in opposition shares. Student Dmitry Fonarev came to comrades from Moscow.

On March 24, 2014, the 3rd Department of the SU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Kaliningrad opened a criminal case on the grounds of the corpus delicti under Part 2 of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Hooliganism based on political hatred or enmity by a group of persons by prior conspiracy”). April 24, a month after the initiation of the case, all three were again detained - first Fonarev, then Savvin, who, at the time of detention, walked with the girl in the park. They came home to Feldman, the activist barely managed to write to his comrades that the police were breaking into his apartment.

The court’s decision on the election of a preventive measure states that activists “from hooligan motives” placed the German flag on the Russian FSB building, “as a symbol of the need to withdraw the Kaliningrad region from the Russian Federation and joining the European Union, thereby grossly violated public order”. The court arrested activists for two months, fearing that they would run away or "continue criminal activity." Then the arrest was extended. To date, the defendants in the case of the flag are waiting for the beginning of the trial in a pre -trial detention center.

On May 5, activists were charged. The resolution notes that they all entered into a criminal conspiracy and hoisted the flag in order to jointly violate public order, "expressing a clear disrespect for society based on political hatred and enmity in the form of provocative actions with the attention of a wide range of people." The document also says that the violators “expressed a clear disrespect for passers -by” and “deeply humiliated the political guidelines of the citizens of the Russian Federation”. At the same time, the activist Fonarev, “guided by a sense of political hatred,” according to investigators, at the time of hanging the flag threw his hand right in front of him and shouted “Zig Hale, Hitler!”

In addition to “malicious hooliganism”, Mikhail Feldman is also charged with explosive funds (Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the case file, a backpack with 357 grams of Hexogen was seized from Fieldman at the FSB building. The case, in turn, claims that explosives were thrown to him. In response to these accusations, the activist in the special receptionist announced a “dry” hunger strike - he did not drink anything and did not eat for four days. Then the boss of the receiver “gave an honest officer word” that no business about explosives would be instituted, Feldman told friends.

Prisoners of the flag

In early September, the FSB building on Sovetsky Prospekt is densely seen ivy. The Kaliningrad journalist and activist Koserina Tkacheva, who is closely following the business, shows the Mediazone correspondent, where the FRG flag was placed in March.

Catherine maintains contact with the parents of the accused and corresponds with the persons who are waiting for the transfer of their case to court. She is sure that by the time of the detention, the children's phones were already listened to by employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Extremism (ET Center). Therefore, she believes, law enforcement officers knew about the upcoming action in advance.

“I think that they had long been looking for an excuse to apply some serious punishment to Kos activists. The committee itself is engaged in political actions within the framework of the law - we hold rallies, distribute leaflets, and we seek compliance with our right to freedom of assembly through the court. Cos is not engaged in direct action. Therefore, when the guys did this, we were angry at them, to some extent-it turns out some kind of setup, it turns out that it was the cos that hung the flag on the garage. At the same time, we cannot leave them in trouble. And we will not give up the guys either, ”Tkacheva explains. According to her, activists are sure that Fieldman, Savvin and Fonarev are judged unjustly.

“Their actions are the maximum of the law on unauthorized shares, the violation of which threatens with a fine or ten days of arrest. There is no criminalism in their action. In addition, the flag was not even above the sign, but over the gate to the FSB garage, ”the journalist explains his point of view.

During the functioning of the COST (and it was created, according to the organizers, in 2010), its members managed to sue several hundred thousand rubles of compensation for the ban on mass shares from the city hall. After that, they stopped picking up the police from shares, they say Tkachev. In addition, the opposition achieved permission to hold shares not on the outskirts of Kaliningrad, but in the city center.

Despite the fact that Feldman and other defendants in the case did not coordinate their action with Kos, the activists of the organization, as far as, try to help all the accused-communicate with the families of the arrested and lawyers, are trying to betray at least some publicist, the journalist says. She herself constantly goes to the courts and writes detailed reports from them.

“At first, the guys began to say that it wasn’t they hung the flag. Activists generally learned about this incident from the police. Therefore, at first we could not even understand, though it is or some kind of divorce. Then they left the three, but even then they did not admit to us. We decided to deny everything first. Then we wrote to them in a pre-trial detention center-well, if you started it, we wanted to say something, then say! ” - Tkacheva emotionally waves his hands. Then, when the case of the flag attracted the attention of the media , the new newspaper, Fonarev, Savvin and Feldman, finally admitted that they were giving the flag.

Explaining the Novaya Gazeta correspondent why and why this action was held, Mikhail Feldman noted the “Double Standards Policy” in Russia - in early March it was already known that a referendum would be held in Crimea and local residents would choose whether they were ready to join Russia. Feldman called rudeness when, in the territory of another sovereign country, "hijacking Russian flags is officially approved by Russia, and the reverse action is a crime."

None of the defendants in the case, according to relatives and friends, was going to hide from the investigation. Even Fonarev did not go back to Moscow. On the contrary, he announced that he was moving to live in Kaliningrad. And even attributed his resume to one of the publishers of the city.

During the investigation, Fieldman, Savvin and Fonarev, two investigators were already replaced, three different judges made decisions as they suppress. All this suggests that the security forces themselves do not know what to do with the accused now, Tkachev believes.

“I think that they did not fully realize all the consequences. Previously, the authorities invented for what to fine them or close them. Now the guys themselves gave them an occasion, ”the journalist sighs.

Hunting for Feldman

Fieldman's mother Lyudmila Fedorovna, an elderly elegant woman, does not live in Kaliningrad and travels with her son in a pre -trial detention center from the city of Zelenogradsk, located several tens of kilometers from the regional center. Leaning leisurely towards the railway station, located near the pre-trial detention center-1, she indignantly recalls how the law enforcement agencies hid her son's whereabouts for several days:

“When I was arrested in April, I was looking for him for three days. Usually we call up every evening with our son. And then I call him, and his phone is turned off. And the next day. I went to him, the door to the apartment was blocked. I went right away to the district police officer, he says that he knows nothing. Then I talked with Misha and found out that the district police officer was present during the detention. He lied to me, that is. "

The activist’s mother wrote several requests - in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the regional and city prosecutor's office. Only after that she was informed that Mikhail Feldman was arrested on charges of hooliganism. According to Lyudmila Fedorovna, after the arrest, Mikhail spent almost a month in Kartsere. In protest, he again promised to declare a hunger strike.

“I say to Misha: no, they say, if you starve, I won’t come to you anymore, you won’t wait. He now has his hands in some kind of terrible abscesses. He consulted with a doctor, he says that he could have a blood disease in general, ”complains Lyudmila Fedorovna, sitting on the station square. She only goes to the courts, as she suppressed, she monitors other defendants through the activists of Kos. According to her, Dmitry Fonarev took responsibility for the action, but investigators still calls Feldman the organizer of the action.

“Misha, of course, does not give a look. He says they will let him go. It seems like he falls under an amnesty. He composes, probably. He calms me as he can, ”Lyudmila Fedorovna smiles sadly. She talks about her son as a stubborn and enthusiastic person. Shortly before the arrest, Feldman finished his fantastic novel “Hunting for the Potion”, whose main character travels in different dimensions, and just planned to publish it. Even now, in a pre -trial detention center, he, according to his mother, writes the continuation of the novel.

Fieldman's mother is not too interested in politics, although she is upset due to a deterioration in relations between Russia and Europe. Like the representatives of Kos, she believes that the phone of her son has long been listening to the people who followed him, we only needed an occasion to accuse him of something.

“Now, all the time, investigators and in court say that Misha committed“ malicious hooliganism. It is “malicious”. I have a direct frost on the skin from this. I’m afraid that they will plant him, ”says Lyudmila Fedorovna.

According to Kos Activists, is no less concerned about the fate of his son Oleg and Sergey Savvin, although their political beliefs are very diverge - he works in the public relations and the media in the Kaliningrad administration. Sergei Savvin refused to talk with the mediazone correspondent.

“I will not talk about this matter. Understand that it can harm Oleg. My work has nothing to do with it. It’s just not time now, ”Savvin explained, hastily escorting the journalist to the exit from the administration building.

The investigator believes that the case file about the flag will be transferred to court until October 26. Since last week, the interests of Mikhail Feldman undertook to represent the lawyer of the Agora interregional association Dmitry Dinze. He has not yet taken to predict the outcome of the case - according to him, it is too ambiguous.

“We can only say that the charges have no actual soil. This is nonsense. We needed more active actions by activists than just hanging the flag to some kind of building, ”says Dinze.

Lawyer Fonareva Maria Boncler refused to answer questions about the case, referring to the subscription of non -disclosure.

"What he did there, we do not know"

Another activist of Kos Vasily Adrianov considers himself primarily a politician and says that his ambitions extend for decades ahead - he intends to participate in the elections and has already prepared his own program.

On the day of the flag was put on the FSB building, Adrianov’s house was searched, although he did not accept participation in the action.

“On March 11, in the morning I came to me by a district police officer and two“ gesniks ”. They say: "Let's go - we will talk." And let's go, I say! For six hours they talked about the flag and other things, then for four hours they searched. The first time they said that the guys hung the flag over the administration building, then clarified that the Gabe building. Horror splashed in their eyes when they talked about it, ”recalls Adrianov, sitting on the pedestal of the monument to the pilots of the Baltic, called the“ arrow ”in Kaliningrad. He fingers he crosses the postal envelopes - his correspondence with the prosecutor’s office and other departments, which he brought to show the mediazone correspondent.

During the search, from Adrianov, his mother and brother, laptops, books and documents were seized. Souvenirs were also seized, which Adrianov brought from Kyiv-magnets with the inscription “Ukraine-Tse Europe”, black and red ribbons of the “Right Sector” banned in Russia, also brought as a gift, and much more. Law enforcement officers took the dummies of machine guns and the army helmet Adrianov, as well as idle cartridges.

“First, the prosecutor’s office reported that a case was initiated against me, which is investigated under Art. 222 (“illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or wearing of weapons and ammunition”). And here is the most interesting! I managed to fight off the charges thanks to Art. 5 of the Criminal Code. Tell your readers! This is very important, ”Adrianov asks. The article, which the activist is talking about, implies that objective imputation, that is, criminal liability for innocent harm, is not allowed.

"There is no intent - there is no crime!" - he triumphs. Now, however, the investigation has aroused another criminal case against him, the activist says. This time for creating an extremist community.

“In July, they come to my house again and I will find out that on May 22 a criminal case was opened on me on the grounds of Article 280.1 (Adrianov probably confuses the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation -“ Creation of an extremist community ”is in the Criminal Code at number 282.1 - approx. Editors),” the activist says. However, since then nothing is known about any progress in the case or his details-Adrianov has been free and continues to engage in political struggle.

With his point of view on the promotion with the FRG flag, he willingly shares with the correspondent "Mediazons":

“The only goal of the action is to ensure that Germany tightens sanction rhetoric against Putin. All! All other versions are the nonsense of the blue beaver. I focus on the task that the person who came here to organize and conduct a action has set myself. ”

Provinging his own vision of the situation, Adrianov recalls that on March 9, the Vice Chancellor of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that the annexation of Crimea would not bring any consequences for Russia. And a few days later, immediately after the flag is posting, Merkel said that there would be sanctions. So, the action has reached its goal, the opposition is convinced.

Adrianov met one of the accused - Fonarev, already seven years ago. He emphasizes that Fonarev was never an opposition and activist. In a certain way, he was influenced by the situation in Kyiv, where Fonarev went this year twice.

“What he did there we do not know. And if they knew, they would not say, ”Adrianov squints cunningly.