Ruslan Khubaev: "Fast and effective displacement from Manezhnaya Square did not work out"

The release at the end of January 2015 from the colony of Ruslan Khubaev, an activist of another Russia, convicted of 4 years for participating in riots on Manezhnaya Square in December 2010, went unnoticed for the media. After the release, Khubaev has so far only gave one interview with the newspaper Eduard Limonov “Total Mobilization”, in which he spoke about his political views, as well as about court and life behind bars. OVD-Info wanted to find out more details about the "manage business."

Why did you decide to go to Manezhnaya?

-I stated this at the trial: different people have different interests-someone is interested in the life of insects, but I am fond of life as such. Including public life. I go to mass events to everything I can reach. I do not always participate, more often - I'm just interested. Therefore, this question can be answered briefly: out of curiosity. Although I also have my own view of what happened: I cannot help but touch the fact that civilians in the capital of my country are shooting a gang of scumbags with impunity.

How did events develop on the square, how did the confrontation with the police began?

- Here I cannot be objective, because I was in the mass, and did not follow the process from the side. At first, there were some aggressive actions from individual drunk personalities from the crowd-they threw a beer bottle, something else, but tightly armored fighters from these objects did not suffer much. Many shouted “riot police - shame on Russia” and similar chants. Garbage into the loudspeakers demanded to disperse. The crowd demanded the mayor. In short, the situation was heated. Then some disabled person one-legged on crutches (he was then interrogated at the trial) wanted to leave the square, but he was not released for the cordon, the riot police pushed him, he dropped the crutches. From the crowd, the people of 10–20 rushed to the aid of the disabled person, the riot police considered it for the attack and began to blow everyone with clubs, pushed the crowd several meters, met furious resistance (then they dismantled the New Year's Christmas tree and dismantled the throwing objects) and retreated back. We waited for reinforcements and, from the third attempt, supplanted the protesters from the dome of the High Service shopping center. Then the head of the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate of Moscow arrived, talked with the crowd, listened to curses and messages to various places, promised a competent investigation into the murder of Sviridov and the lack of repressions regarding the detainees. After that, the people began to diverge massively. It would seem, why wouldn't Kolokoltsev go to the people from the very beginning? How much blood could be avoided!

How do you evaluate what was happening there?

- People gathered to declare their protest. There were separate groups among them, but the bulk of people were not organized and configured negatively in relation to representatives of the authorities. Someone ordered OMON to displace the crowd from the square. This “someone” had no idea about the quantitative and qualitative composition of the participants in this spontaneous rally, so the quick and effective crowding out did not work, but a long confrontation with many victims was obtained.

Did the events on the Manezhnaya try to tie up to “Strategy-31” and “other Russia”?

- A couple of hours after the events on the Manezhnaya, I watched the news story on TV, where the Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliev clearly said that the left radicals were guilty. Similar statements to the public sounded from officials (including the director of the IC of the Russian Federation) both during the preliminary investigation and during the trial. Our indictment in six volumes began with the words: Berezyuk, UNCHUK, Khubaev, being active members of the unregistered political organizations “Other Russia” and “Strategy31”, which set the goal of their activity the abolition of the permissive order of mass events .... ”. The evidence of our guilt by a separate resolution of the head of the investigation group recognized the party documents of the party, campaigning leaflets “Strategies 31” and even the books of Eduard Limonov, who were seized from me during the arrest and during searches from the Moscow party activists.

Why was you detained from the National Bolsheviks of you, Igor Berezyuk and Kirill UNCHUK?

- Because they could not drink any other National Bolshes with all the desire, although they really wanted to.

How did the version of the National Bolsheviks fall apart? Only thanks to the rejection of the testimony of Ilya Kubrakov, the repression did not affect the larger number of differentials?

- Such a version was extended publicly by the press and the leaders of the power structures (including Nurgaliev and Bastrykin), which can be regarded as pressure on public opinion, investigative and judicial authorities. However, we could not bring any accusations of the organization, and such a version in court was not even considered even. Ilya Kubrakov abandoned his initially these testimonies a year after the Manezhka, when everyone they could reach and attracted to whom the investigators could reach. Kubrakov’s testimony only concerned Berezyuk and no one else.

On Manezhnaya, in addition to confrontation with the police, there were many beatings and just people of non -Slavic appearance. Were the attacks on them really not investigated at all?

- Really it is. In the process of familiarization with the case file, I watched dozens of hours of video. On many frames, the faces of those who beat five 15-year-old teenagers are visible. I read the testimony of these guys - they were recognized as victims in our case. But I did not find any investigative actions aimed at establishing these persons in any of the 22 volumes of criminal case.

What main violations can you single out during the investigation and during the court?

- There are a million such violations! The investigation limited me in the terms of familiarization with the case file - so I could not sufficiently prepare for the process. My lawyer, who entered the case on the eve of the court, was not given the time to familiarize themselves with either the investigator or the judicial collegium - they drove the process, were in a hurry to pass the verdict by a certain date (one day with the killers of Yegor Sviridov), for the same reason they cut off my speeches in the midst The court refused to me and UNCHUK to attract public defenders to the process, refused the defense party without any intelligible grounds to satisfy a number of petitions: conducting additional examinations, calling witnesses to the court for interrogation (it is not only about officials, but also about ordinary participants in the rally or passers-by, previously questioned at the preliminary investigation), about the announcement of the whole volumes of the criminal case (thus, I could not refer to these materials in the debate), on the removal of a certain Ivanov - deputy from the hall. The head of the Moscow riot police, who was sitting on the front bench next to the rostrum and a loud whisper (we heard) prompted and pressed the prosecution on the victims and witnesses. The most important thing is that the court refused to conduct an audio recording of the process and attach an audio recording made by protection to the case file. Is it necessary to explain that the minutes of the court hearing was largely distorted, and all the defendants-nazboles in response to cassation complaints received an unsubscription from the Tver court that, they say, there was nothing to refer to non-existent testimonies of witnesses, the victims and their own.

How did the investigative actions differ in relation to you, accused-nazbols, and accused of "non-partisans"?

- They did not differ anything special. The positions of the National Bolsheviks and the rest of the defendants were distinguished, who partially pleaded guilty and sat in court with the look of repenting sinners. We believed and believe that in the riots on Manezhnaya Square, employees and leaders of power structures are guilty.

How did the jailers treat you in a pre -trial detention center and in the colony?

- Employees of the IR administration were surprised at such a close attention to me by the regional department of the Federal Penitentiary Service and law enforcement agencies. From their point of view, I am an ideal prisoner: I don’t drink, I don’t use drugs, I don’t play gambling, I don’t participate in criminal showdowns, polite in communication, non-conflict, etc. They also asked me why I was in the SUS (strict conditions of detention-ATS-INFO), in the Broke of the APD-INFO) planted? I answered: dial in Yandex my last name. And in the Moscow pre -trial detention center they are already accustomed to political, you will not surprise them with this, and our only thing was for everyone. In general, they treated normally, someone even with sympathy. In SUS I was closed three months after arriving at the camp - September 05, 2012. In the BUR - three and a half months before the call, October 13, 2014.