Former fighter of the dead army

Ilya Azar tells what the journalist of RBC Alexander Sokolov is being persecuted

“Our journalist has been in prison for five months under an non-violent article,” said RBC correspondent Mikhail Rubin at the annual press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 17. “I would like to convey our appeal to you with a request to figure it out.” We are afraid that we can talk about pressure on freedom of speech. ” Rubin asked about his colleague, the author of several sensational investigations of Alexander Sokolov. He is accused of extremism, since the summer of 2015 he has been in jail. Sokolov and his associates proposed deciding the fate of the presidents who leave their post in a referendum: if the people said that the head of state worked poorly, he would have threatened a prison term. The correspondent of RBC Vladimir Putin said that he hears and was ready to help for the first time about this. However, right during the press conference on the “referendum case”, another suspect was detained. The special correspondent of Medusa, Ilya Azar, tells what Sokolov and his comrades are pursuing for.

A sheet of paper of A4 format, in the cap in large letters is printed: "The balloon of the court of the people over their powers in 2008 by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin." Below, for the decision of the President’s fate, it is proposed to put a box in one of the empty squares - “worthy of encouragement”, “without consequences” or “deserves punishment”.

The president would have earned punishment if the voters would have considered that "from 2000 to 2008, life in Russia worsened, and this is the fault of Putin's authority." If most of the voters chose the “punishment”, then the outgoing head of state would go to prison - for a period equal to his stay in his position.

The authors of the ideas of the People’s Court of the Russian authorities wanted to hand such a ballot to voters along with a list of presidential candidates in the elections. They proposed approving the appropriate changes to the Constitution at a popular referendum. For this, an initiative group for holding a referendum "For responsible power" (IGPR call) was created.

Two of the supporters of this referendum, including a journalist in RBC, are now in a pre-trial detention center, and the author of the idea, a 66-year-old publicist and former editor-in-chief of the forbidden Duel newspaper Yuri Mukhin, under house arrest.

Case

Yuri Mukhin, System Administrator of the Moscow United Energy Company (MOEC) Valery Parfenov and RBC journalist Alexander Sokolov were arrested on July 27, 2015. Moreover, the publicist Mukhin was detained on the beach in Sevastopol and directly in the swimming trunks was taken to the department, where he was not allowed to dress for five hours.

Later, Mukhin-due to age and poor health-was transferred under house arrest, and the court has already extended the term of detention in jail, the last time -until January 22, 2016.

According to the investigation, IGPR Call became the successor to the previously recognized extremist and prohibited organization “Army of the will of the people” (AVN). It was headed by Mukhin, and the main goal of the ABN activity from 1997 to 2010 was to hold the same referendum on the “responsibility of power to the people”.

In addition, the investigation believes that “the creation of initiative groups for holding a referendum and its subsequent holding to amend the Constitution of the Russian Federation on the responsibility of the highest authorities to the people” is only a cover: the true motives of IGPR Call consist in “shaking the political situation in the Russian Federation towards instability” and “changing the existing authority by illegally”.

The case was opened under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (continuation of the activities of the prohibited extremist organization); It threatens Mukhin, Sokolov and Parfenov in imprisonment for up to two years. Sokolova’s lawyer Olga Chavdar notes: this week “from the decisions and examinations of the investigation” it became clear that the defendants were going to incriminate the 280th article of the Criminal Code-public calls to carry out extremist activities; Punishment - up to four years in prison.

Referendum

Participants in the “Army of the will of the people”, and then the calls since the 1990s have been advocating a referendum on the responsibility of the authorities, wrote several bills on this subject; They do not see anything criminal in their activities.

Four supporters of the organization came to a meeting with me - Kirill Barabash, Vyacheslav Gorbaty, Pavel Vybnov and Vitaly Shamanin. “Our idea is abruptly than Marxism. For the first time in history, she raises such an important question. After all, until the voters themselves will give a criminal law assessment of the authorities, everything is pointless-it will be “what I want, then I turn it over,” says Shamanin.

According to the plan of supporters of the referendum, a new corpus delicti must be introduced into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - “the deterioration of the life of the people”. A negative assessment of the population removes inviolability from the president and deputies of the Federal Assembly, after which the investigation will deal with them as ordinary citizens and potential criminals. “If there was, for example, corruption, then the investigator will still add,” says Barabash. He is a lieutenant colonel of the reserve Air Force, a call came to the meeting with the symbol of IGPR Call.

- That is, for eight years in prison, the president leaves without a trial after two terms? I clarify.

- How without trial? In court of the people! - Shamanin answers indignantly.

- But what about the competitiveness of the process, the right to the defender?

“Here the people act as a jury,” explains Shamanin.

“It will be stated in the Code of Criminal Procedure that there is a special form of the jury, when they are all citizens, and competitiveness will be ensured during its reign,” adds Barabash.

According to Barabash, the proposal "gives the authorities to feel who the master is in the house."

“In vain, our idea is represented as too cruel, because there are other options, not so gloomy,” adds Gorbaty.

“Isn't your missing idea too much?” I ask.

- That's why it sounds populist, which is very interesting to a large mass of people. It is strange that her authorities do not want to use, - Gorbaty replies.

I ask the supporters of the referendum about possible falsifications in the elections - not every president will even take a chance to give himself to the power of the people. They easily agree that a referendum is an idea for the future. “This piece of paper is not a panacea from all troubles, it will simply be better with it. This thing will not save us from those in the Kremlin. How to deal with the current abomination that ruins the country is a separate issue. My personal opinion is that there are no decent people left in the power, and those who are twisted on TV need to be arrested immediately, but this is my opinion, not related to our concept, ”Barabash replies.

Persecution

The writer and editor-in-chief of the “Free Press” Sergey Shargunov, who in July 2015 defended Mukhin, does not see the desire to hold a referendum on the “responsibility of power” nothing reprehensible: “I have read these calls in the Duel newspaper more than once:“ You chose to judge you ”. Many formulations seem to me utopian, but in this pathos slogan it is strange to see something criminal-in fact, any legal democratic state was built on this. ” Law enforcement agencies, obviously, consider it differently.

- Why do you think you are pressed? - I am interested in four supporters of the referendum.

- I would like to say that the whole thing is in our wonderful and unique idea that can change the world in the blink of an eye. But illusions do not need to build - just a very difficult situation for those who are trying to rule the country. So they are cleaning everything that is knocked beyond the scope. Hands reached us, ”Barabash replies.

- impunity at the very top led to impunity at all levels. The bureaucratic apparatus imitates activities since the time of Khrushchev, and a huge department of state security needs to do something, and the easiest way to come up with extremists, ”adds Shamanin.

Extremists began to “invent” back in 2008. Then the Adler District Court of Sochi recognized part of the leaflet “You have chosen - to judge you” with extremist material. After that, already in 2010, the Moscow City Court recognized Extremist the entire “army of the will of the people”. Mukhin and his comrades -in -arms continued activities under the name Call, but there is no formal membership in the organization, and it is legally not registered. The initiative group to hold it is not registered under the referenda law - there are catastrophically lack supporters.

- If they really wanted to close people, then the investigation had to play it safe at the beginning and prove that among us there are people engaged in extremism. At first they closed people, and now they are trying to find what was extremist, but it doesn’t work out. The “Army of the will of the people” was recognized as extremist - unprofitable, but at least for the leaflet, but now they don’t even say, for example, that IGPR calls the same text, ”says Barabash. -Why do they conduct examinations, if they do not have the most important thing-evidence that the organization did something extremist in general? That's what insanity is!

- What is the cruel irony of the situation: despite all the perversions, the very idea of ​​a referendum even they do not risk declare extremist. They say that a referendum is a certain cover of a desire to organize an illegal revolution and overthrow power. And the loosening of the political situation is not an article at all, but a figure of speech, ”adds Gorbaty.

- Do you generally admit that you are shaking power? I ask.

- Of course not! - says Shamanin.

The lawyer of Alexander Sokolov Olga Chavdar claims that the defense has so far taken an “observation position for how the result is trying to get out of what has been baked in the case out of nothing - from the air.” “In 2010, the court banned the“ army of the will of the people ”, since it is extremist, but the call has no organizational form, and at all there is no relationship with it,” says Chavdar.

At the same time, when I call the call “virtual organization”, my interlocutors are offended. “As it can be called virtual, if it exists, participates in real affairs, for example, in the organizing committees of“ Millions of Millions ”and“ Russian Marches ”,” says Pavel Vybornov, the fourth participant in our meeting. “I would not call it virtual, but in order to register as a referendum group, you need to have a fairly large number of people in the regions. We do not have them yet. How to register, if we understand that we will start and immediately blow, ”says Barabash.

Extremism in the “Referendum case” is not seen by human rights activists from the Center “Memorial”. They recognized Mukhin, Sokolov and Parfenov by political prisoners and believe that the investigation is “based on the baseless attributed to the accused of obviously not proved subjective characteristics, which are not arising from the circumstances of the case, and the purpose of the referendum, as well as the purpose of shaking the political situation in the Russian Federation, are not criminal”.

“The authorities need to deal with someone for reporting, and [Call activists] were absolutely defenseless. For many, these are freaks, they have no significant political roof and are generally on the outskirts of political reality. You can easily cope with such “little ones”, ”Shargunov is worried.

Journalist and editors

One of these “little ones” was Alexander Sokolov, a journalist for a powerful media holding of RBC. The call believes that colleagues could make more for Sokolov. “The editors' activity went on decline. Our associate in RBC replied that articles about Sokolov are read little, and they need attendance, ”says Barabash. He indicates that RBC could organize a rally of journalistic solidarity in the support of Sokolov. The own shares of the supporters of the referendum turned out to be small, Barabash admits. “I would like RBC to actively engage in Sokolov’s business - their employees must be defended, especially if they were taken by lawlessness,” says Shargunov.

In RBC they say that they do everything they can, and regularly write about Sokolov’s business. “In court, there are more chances to achieve his release on formal legal grounds than if done from the show. This does not prevent us from walking in different offices and telling about Sashino to everyone you can reach, ”Roman Badanin, editor -in -chief of the RBC agency, tells me.

Sokolov began working in RBC before the new team, headed by the chief editor Elizabeth Ossetian, arrived there in early 2014. “He is one of the few members of the former team who successfully took root in the new edition,” says Badanin. Sokolov, according to him, "was, first of all, by research and a little bit of investigations." He prepared three “big labor”: about the salaries of officials ; About how they earn on the construction of the Eastern Cosmodrome and the project about the poorest and most rich Russian cities. “He, of course, is young and not sufficiently experienced, and a crowd of editors worked with him, but the main thing is that he is very good with numbers, knows how to find, interpret and build mathematical models,” Badanin adds.

Sokolov was the first search in February 2015. Shortly before him, the journalist defended his dissertation on the topic "The influence of rented behavior on the investment of Russian state corporations." “Novaya Gazeta” Sokolov said that during interrogation after the search he was asked, among other things, about the dissertation. “When they broke up with a search in February, they took a dissertation and asked him why he wrote such a critical work. His supervisor and I was invited as witnesses and asked about it. There was not a word about the referendum, ”Sokolova Daria confirms me.

On Thursday, December 17, RBC managed to convey information about Sokolov’s case to the president. Journalist Mikhail Rubin asked a question about this during the annual press conference of Putin. He stated that he first hears about the case, promised to figure it out and, possibly, help. Rubin told the president that the editorial office "fears that we can talk about some pressure to freedom of speech." Sokolova’s lawyer Olga Chavdar also told me that “the defense has every reason to believe that the Sokolov is persecuted for his journalism.”

Badanin, however, stipulates that RBC does not have facts directly indicating this: “I know that according to some of his notes he was offered bribes or threatened, but it does not yet follow that a criminal case will be instituted against him.”

Sergei Shargunov does not believe that we are talking about the persecution of Sokolov for journalistic activities. “Many people write revealing materials from us, and I, I think, still took him at the same time with Mukhin,” says Shargunov.

Patriot-Antystemite

The members of the IGPR are also sure: the power aimedly wants to put Yuri Mukhin, not Sokolov. “In recent years, Mukhin's articles have been beaten in the most sick places. As a publicist, he is a brilliant person. And he selected the same in the team - the same Sasha [Sokolov] made unique materials in RBC, ”says Barabash.

Mukhin is known for his radical views. For example, he does not recognize the fact of the shooting of Polish officers in Katyn by the NKVD, believes that the peasants themselves are to blame for the Holodomor. Not alien to Mukhin and anti -Semitism . His "army of the will of the people" was called a left -wing and Stalinist movement.

Mukhin’s supporters do not consider him anti -Semite. “These are just Zhupels. Like, nationalism is bad, anti -Semitism is bad. He has articles directed against fascist Zionism, which directly blooms and smells everywhere! ” - answers Barabash. According to Gorbaty, people who read the works of Mukhin “carefully and honestly” immediately become clear that “it does not smell like a real enmity to any nation”.

He says that among supporters there are both radical nationalists and Stalinists - there are only “pure liberals”. Barabash, for example, calls himself a national patriot. Sokolov also clearly adheres to not liberal beliefs - for example, his article on the Call from Donetsk (where he went on a business trip from RBC) is called “Donetsk in the fascist siege” and begins with the phrase: “Power in the conditions of a complete lack of responsibility mechanisms to the people under the influence of oligarchy and external forces can easily slide down to total zombies and the massacre of their own murder people, to fascism. "

The main idea of ​​Mukhin is Delocracy. He himself gave her such a definition - "the power of the case, a person management system, an alternative bureaucracy." Shamanin describes “Delocracy” a little more mundanely: “Here the wife tells the husband:“ You bring little money. ” How is Delocrat the husband should tell her: “Do you have little money? So go to the track and earn money”. ”

Сторонники ИГПР признаются, что единственным кандидатом в президенты, кто согласился включить в свою программу принципы делократии, в 2011 году стал Борис Миронов. Это бывший глава комитета РФ по печати, в 2008-м он был признан виновным в разжигании межнациональной розни. Ни в каких выборах Миронов, разумеется, участия не принял.

Шаргунов в ответ на вопрос о взглядах Мухина говорит: «С бредовыми рассуждениями можно полемизировать, можно их высмеивать, но это не может быть подсудным явлением».

Четвертый фигурант

Степень вовлеченности Соколова в подготовку референдума за ответственную власть остается неясной. Его соратники говорят, что он участвовал в их деятельности с каждым годом все меньше и меньше. «Его можно назвать разве что бывшим бойцом „Армии воли народа“. Бывшим бойцом погибшей в бою армии», — говорит Барабаш.

«Он абсолютно не вел никакой деятельности в ЗОВ. Последние три года у него в РБК была полная загруженность, и все его время уходило на профессиональную деятельность», — утверждает жена Соколова. По ее словам, он разве что размещал на сайте свои статьи. «Да, организацией людей на местах он не занимался», — соглашается Барабаш. С коллегами Соколов общался мало и, в основном, по работе. Во всяком случае его непосредственный начальник в РБК Игорь Терентьев говорит, что о политике разговоры не заходили, о ЗОВ он не слышал и «был в шоке, когда узнал об аресте».

По материалам следствия, на имя Соколова зарегистрирован сайт ИГПР ЗОВ. По словам адвоката Ольги Чавдар, следствие полагает, что на сайте распространялась информация о ЗОВ, а эта организация имела те же цели и задачи, что и запрещенная «Армия воли народа». «Если доменное имя и было зарегистрировано на Соколова, то это ни о чем не говорит. Мало ли, на кого сайт зарегистрирован, Соколов в последнее время занимался журналистской и научной деятельностью, и у него не было времени участвовать в ЗОВ», — объясняет Чавдар.

«Я Сан Саныча [Соколова] считаю сторонником идеи суда над органами власти. And what is it? Другое дело, что он нигде особо не выступал и ничего страшного не делал. Почему его закрывают, а Барабаша оставляют на свободе?», — защищал соратника на встрече со мной Барабаш.

На свободе подполковник запаса пробыл недолго. Встречались мы 13 декабря, а уже 16 декабря к нему домой в шесть утра пришли полицейские в масках, срезали дверь болгаркой и начали обыск. На следующий день, прямо во время пресс-конференции Путина Барабаш был задержан. В пятницу, 18 декабря, Хамовнический суд арестовал его.

Ilya Azar

Moscow