Konstantin Zharinov: “You press it, and then you look - there’s a lot of unnecessary stuff”

— The court refused to return the case to the prosecutor?

— Yes, this is the main result of the two meetings that took place. We emphasized that the examinations were not entirely correct, that it was not proven in the case, that I had the intent to make extremist calls... But the judge decided differently .

— How long did the post on your page remain on your page because of which the case was opened?

— Approximately 60 hours.

— Why did law enforcement read your account?

— They probably watched me... I took part in anti-war pickets, environmental pickets. Apparently, they put me under control and took advantage of my negligence.

— Why did you post this post and why did you delete it?

— I deleted it after the prosecutor’s office responded to it. Maybe he would have deleted it anyway, drawing attention to the fact that it is not entirely appropriate. debris appears on the wall Often some . You click, and then you look - there is a lot of unnecessary stuff.

— When did it become known that a case was opened against you?

— About two months later they informed me.

— Did the prosecutor call you and send you an email saying that the post needs to be deleted?

- Well, I went to the prosecutor’s office, they issued me a warning. The police from the department for combating extremism were the first to notice this, and they contacted the prosecutor's office. They called me and said that there was something bad on my page. I didn’t even understand what it was about, I thought it was a misunderstanding.

— And you also study the history of terrorism...

- Yes, you can put my name into search engines. By searching “Zharin terrorism” you will find my books, I have a website Terroristica.info.

— Are the police, the FSB, also annoyed by your research activities?

- Why is it annoying? I even had experience, I gave a lecture for one of the police departments. However, I was not invited again.

— Are there statistics on how many people viewed this post in 60 hours?

- No. I tried to find out, but representatives of VKontakte replied that they do not provide such information - this is their official position. If there were such data, it would turn out that it’s good if there are five people. Who needs this anyway? I don’t have some kind of promoted public page.

- How many friends do you have?

— Now it’s over 300, in the spring it was less, over 200.

— And you are threatened with up to four years in prison?

- Yes , yes, Article 280 .

— How did the investigation go?

- Quite routine. We ordered our examinations, they ordered theirs. That's all the consequence.

— Is there any wiretapping of your phone in the case?

“The next day they announced to me that a case had been opened, they put the phone under wiretapping. Maybe they also listened before, I can’t say... They included the wiretapping materials within one day. I talked to journalists, like I’m talking to you now, and explained what happened. I don't even know what they are trying to prove with this.

— The case against you was conducted by the FSB. Have you ever encountered this department before?

— No, apart from traffic fines, I had no violations.

— Where did the operatives of Center “E” get your phone number?

— I gave notices to a rally, picket a couple of times - they have this manner of issuing warnings so that the law on holding mass events is not violated.

- How many times were you interrogated?

— The investigation lasted from May to August, there were 5-6 interrogations.

— Why did the FSB need your file?

- No matter how many versions you build... In my opinion , for them this is routine work. Chelyabinsk was the hinterland of the Soviet Union, and now it is the border with Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, of course, is not the most dangerous country, but behind Kazakhstan is Uzbekistan, and the border is open. There’s every “Hizb ut-Tahrir ” here, God knows what’s going on... It seems that the FSB is much more interested in dealing with them, we’ve already had a few cases... Yes, I can’t say that in my case they beat the hoof...