Pneumatic extremism: Omsk oppositionists tried to condemn for shooting

It was in September 2014. It all started with the fact that my friends and I came to fire. First, training, and then for orphans and children with disabilities. To arrange a small competition for children - to shoot from a gun. I am a volunteer of the Angelian Children Foundation. When we were about to leave, a police officer approached us. At first he was alone, gradually 12 of them came in civilian, five in body armor and machine guns, the rest were simply in uniform.

There were three of us, two guys who also shot from a pneumatic pistol were also detained. They also had a trial, and they also won it. We were not familiar, then accidentally met on the street, and they told me.

We began to ask us why we shoot here. We were on the biathlon complex, there are allowed shooting. They shoot not only from pneumatic, but also from small -caliber biathlon. We were forcibly loaded into the Gazelle and taken to the police station. There were three of us, we were distributed in offices and did not allow us to communicate with each other. My phone was taken away, because I immediately began to call the prosecutor’s office, public figures, my defender, who then represented me in court. I managed to transfer the information, and our friends began to pull up to the police station.

I actively participated in “Strategy-6” in Omsk, in “Strategy-31”, supported civil initiatives: for example, protests against deforestation on some streets demanding the shift of the chief architect Omsk, which initiated cutting down. I also participated in shares against the war with Ukraine. Most likely, that's why they followed. Repeatedly I was met by police officers when I left the house for some promotions.

This was not the first time that we were preparing for this children's event, we shot ourselves. To teach children, you must first learn how to first. Frankly, I did not notice the police, but, as my friend Andrei said, some person in civilian was constantly watching us. Andrei did not participate in civil actions and therefore did not attach importance to this. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the competition - our court stretched more than six months.

I was interrogated by two: a police colonel and a civilian person who submitted a criminal investigation officer, but the certificate refused to show. He behaved nervously, expressed his obscenity, felt his impunity - outwardly he was very similar to an FSB officer. This man fumbled in my notebook. To my remark that this is illegal, he replied that he was not interested - only in a rude form. Then, from the third floor, we were the first - there we were interrogated by two younger lieutenants. The first was interested in why we shot and whether it was somehow connected with extremist activities, the lieutenants asked simple questions about what for the rifle, why we were there. They said, you can’t shoot there, we - that you can shoot there.

We were told the next day to come to the police for the court. I did not understand why - the court should go in court. The next day we went immediately to the district court. There we were told that our business was not transferred. We wrote a statement so that we were immediately informed, so that the case did not go without us.

About a month later we were received for consideration in the magistrate court of the Pervomaisky district. We came with the defender, wrote several petitions: about the call of witnesses, about the call of police officers. The court was postponed, as there were many witnesses - in fact, for a month. The first court was in October, the second in November.

Witnesses were not called, but they called the police. The police frankly lied. On my comments - blushed, began to stutter. The defender also asked him questions inconvenient: for example, whether the FSB or the EE is not supervised. One younger lieutenant even stood in the center of the hall and went into the corner. Police officers could not clearly answer in court whether our weapons are prohibited, although they confirmed that such air rifles are available on free sale. The police did not answer whether it was possible to shoot from this weapon there.

The judge transferred the case, motivating the need to call an expert in arms. The meeting was postponed to December. The weapon expert said that the power of this rifle is 6.8 joules. Which, of course, does not make it forbidden. It took an expert because the police could not evaluate the capacity of the guilty.

The judge awarded us 40 thousand rubles of a fine per person under Article 20.13 Part 2 (shooting from weapons in settlements or other places not allotted for this). At the first meetings, the judge did not understand what was happening, why we were charged with such an accusation, why the process was going on because of the pneumatic rifle. I think that they pressed her third meeting. Her behavior changed, she began to talk much more rude, began to listen to police officers more than us.

We waited for the decisions to us, and filed an appeal to the district court. There the case was considered in February and at the first hearing immediately justified, the police did not come. The judge decided that this rifle is not prohibited, and that we were in a place permitted for shooting.

Perhaps law enforcement officers at the end of the year had to report that they still crushed us, but at the beginning of the year it was not important, and they did not say anything to the judge.