Translated material
"Hey, camel, it will not seem to you little!"
On November 3, during the UN conference against corruption in St. Petersburg, activists of the Corruption Fund were detained, who distributed brochures against illegal enrichment, and the photographer of the Internet publications of iodine. Activist Fedor Gorozhanko, who got more than others, described how everything happened.
As many already know, yesterday we tried to answer Sergey Ivanov to his statements about successes in the fight against corruption in Russia and spread the brochure of the “History of Olivege Crime” among the participants of the UN conference against corruption, which takes place in the St. Petersburg “LenExpo”. The educational action lasted no more than a quarter of an hour, was brutally interrupted by police officers and unknown persons in civilian clothes, and ended with protocols on an administrative offense, beatings in the police department and a concussion.
The UN conference takes place in the seventh Pavilion "LenExpo", which is surrounded by a fence from all sides. Entrance - strictly according to passes, around dozens of people and police. The only opportunity to chat with the conference participants is to catch them at the entrance to the territory of the exhibition complex. Yesterday at 17:00, I, activists Polina Kostyleva, Alexey Kasatkin approached the central gate in front of the pavilion and began to give out our brochure outing participants. Together with us was the photographer David Frenkel with the Baiga Press. There were not too many people from the gate, we managed to distribute about thirty brochures in a few minutes. Foreign delegates took them with great interest, however, they were upset that the brochure in Russian would have to be translated. Our compatriots smiled skeptically when they heard about the "Fund for the fight against corruption", but also took brochures and leafed through.
10 minutes after the start, the guards of the exhibition complex ran around us, the police and began to say that nothing should be handed out. I asked a policeman several times, who grabbed my jacket and dragged me aside what exactly I violated and on what grounds you can’t give out? He moved away, consulted with someone on the phone. Then the policeman returned with an explanation: “Hey, camel, it will not seem enough to you!” Unknown employees in civilian clothes immediately came running, volunteers divorced in different directions. Nobody touched his hands, but surrounded so that it was impossible to take a step aside. Before my eyes they attacked David, began to pull the hands, close the camera lens.
A few minutes later, a policeman scared me by a camel by the sleeve and took me across the road towards the Omonovsky Ural truck. Nobody called the reason for the detention, the documents were not presented. Later, Kasatkin was brought to the truck, and we were pushed into the body. There were four amphone guys. I asked them the reason for the detention, in response, insults and accusations of betrayal of their homeland fell. I sat in a free seat, they told me to get up: "It’s not supposed to sit." I demanded to observe at least some decency and sat down again. Immediately from behind received a blank blow to the nape area, flew forward, three riot police began to beat their hands on the head. Kasatkin demanded to stop the beating, one of the police authorities came to the noise, the riot police left us alone, took several brochures and began to study.
Then the body door opened again, and we were transferred to a police gazelle, which came up, put in a dark trunk without windows and metal walls. A photographer was already sitting there. Polina Kostyleva knocked on the wall, she was also detained, but put in the salon. So we were brought to the 37th police department.
Once again I asked why we were detained that we were violated whether any protocols were drawn up. The police were confused, ran, waited for the instructions of the authorities. I sat on the bench in the duty unit, in turn listened to from incoming employees that I was a national chairman, I serve the interests of America, etc. I wrote about all this on Twitter, and after some time journalists and unpertured ones began to call the department, to be interested in our fate. At some point, an employee came out who is sitting on the phone and said that "someone is draining information on the Internet." They saw a phone in my hands and said that they would now withdraw. I said that there is no protocol about the detention, there can be no seizure, especially without observing all the procedures, inviting witnesses, etc. The phone began to grab the phone, four employees attacked, I began to knock on the wall, call for help. They knocked me to the floor, beat, broke my hands and put on handcuffs, took the phone. Everything happened under the video camera that is installed in the site.
The police promised to “invite those very riot police from the Urals to the preventive conversation”. Fortunately, the first to come to the conversation was the deputy of the Legislative Assembly Maxim Reznik, who got into the duty unit and demanded to remove the handcuffs from me. The handcuffs were removed, I took my phone from the table, and the police officers were sharply transformed and began to behave like silk.
Despite the fact that by this moment there was not a single report, protocol and any document in general, the employees pulled out the remnants of the brochures from my backpack and began to draw up the inspection and removal of materials, from their words, to conduct an examination for extremism. The protocol was drawn up, 70 brochures were sealed, the witnesses signed, they promised me to give a copy, but took it to the second floor of the department, where they began to take explanations about what happened. The rest of the guys were still sitting in anticipation. For about 20 minutes I gave explanations, by this moment the delivery protocols were prepared, where the following was listed literally for everyone under the copy:
“He annoyedly picked up to Gr-M foreign organizations, raised them with brothers of leaflets, incomprehensible content. Sotr did not react to comments. police. He interfered with the passage of foreign divigations along the sidewalk. Art. 20.2 COAPRF ".
I was offered to pick up a copy of the protocol and go home. I asked the fate of the seized brochures and wanted to get a copy of the protocol about the inspection and seizure. Before my eyes, they broke and said that there was no inspection. Then I said: either they give me brochures, or give a copy of this protocol. After skirmishes and calls to the authorities, the police took out the destroyed protocol from the garbage and sat down to rewrite it again.
When I went out with a copy, the rest were already released home. Someone from the police authorities proved to the members of the public observation commission that no one beat anyone and did not use special equipment when I showed my wrists wounded by handcuffs, the policeman changed their point of view: I supposedly tried to destroy some documents, so I had to neutralize. What kind of documents - he could not explain.
Later, in the emergency room I recorded abrasions and bruises on the wrists, as well as a diagnosis - a concussion. I will seek to bring police officers accountable. I will not say that I have hopes for the success of this enterprise (for sure riot police from the Urals as one will say that they did not touch me with a finger, and the camera in the police department was at these minutes on prevention). But when activists who distribute anti -corruption brochures at the anti -corruption conference, they are rudely delayed and beaten in the police department, this is already a diagnosis of not only “the fight against corruption”, but also the state as a whole.