In the family circle, in the ring of enemies

The family of 17-year-old Ira turned the girl’s life into hell because of her friendship with the opposition

Ira Ivanova is 17 years old. She adheres to opposition views and participates in the shares of St. Petersburg "solidarity" . Because of this, she began troubles in college, where she studies, and at home. Ira is experiencing rigid pressure from the parents who actually keep her under house arrest, and from the part of youth organizations that consider it their duty to "re -heal" Ira through the so -called patriotic education.

Ira Ivanova (the name changed) in its 17 years weighs 36 kilograms. True, in May she will be 18, but until May she still needs to survive. Ira studies in one of the colleges of Pushkin, lives in Pavlovsk with her parents who love her. Grandparents also love Ira, and everything would be fine if, loving their child, they recognized him the right to look at the world with their own eyes.

In my family, they are used to the fact that it is necessary to support what the president, the government say, and I began to think more freely

Mom, dad, grandparents watch TV. They support the president, and those who do not agree with him consider enemies. And here it happens terrible - the beloved only daughter and granddaughter leaves the circle outlined by the light of the television screen, goes to other people's incomprehensible people, picks up a poster and stands with this poster on Nevsky Prospekt, and on the poster it says: "The imposition of hatred is a crime of media." It was the action "Results of the Year" organized by the Movement "Solidarity". Ira chose this poster out of many others - apparently, I wanted to shout to everyone that it was not true that it lives on TV, but that she kills peace and love in her family.

How did Ira turn out to be a supporter of the opposition movement, and the monolithic family did not inspire her with her own faith in the correctness of the "general line"?

“It all started when I was 14 years old,” says Ira. -Actually, I was an informal, I adhered to my left glances, but when I walked through the streets, I came across people with posters, they handed out leaflets, newspapers, I took, came up, met, asked them. Then she began to monitor the reports of Radio Liberty, to learn something through social networks. I understood that my views were conflicting with the views of my family, but I hoped that this could somehow gently overcome. In my family, they are used to the fact that it is necessary to support what the president, the government says, and I began to think more freely. Then she decided to get acquainted with the activists of "Solidarity", wrote "VKontakte" Olga Smirnova, went to their event, began to get acquainted with other activists. I did not hide my views at home-I thought it would just remain at the level of different interests, but they tried to convince me all the time, and when I realized that I was going somewhere, I participated in something, they began to take away from me, I have to limit the freedom of movement. It is clear that I resisted, the conflict arose. I remember that at the end of January, in college, our class teacher came up to me and asked what happened to me during the holidays, why they demand a characteristic from somewhere “from above”-where exactly, he did not explain. Well, I said that I am participating in promotions and I see nothing wrong with this. Then this did not cause any negative reaction. But the conflict of the house became unbearable: they didn’t let me go anywhere, they checked where I called my friends, took my phone and forced to wash all the “unnecessary” numbers, checked the calls, the VKontakte account, and they didn’t always let the computer. They even hit me on the head, on the shoulder, rushed with slippers. Grandmother and dad did this, my mother simply crushed, ascended, did not let me engage in, do lessons and even rest, did not give me sleep, all the conversations began in the evening, ”says Ira.

Her friends from the "solidarity" went to the guardianship authorities, asked for help, but the service turned out to be a bear: the officials from the guardianship sided with the family, said that Ira herself was to blame. Moreover, they literally forced Ira to go to the organization "Contact" of the Committee on Youth Policy, which aggravated the situation. There, Ira’s parents convinced that their daughter contacted extremists and was almost going to flee to Syria.

- I did not want to go anywhere, but my mother insisted - she said that if I did not go, she would invite them home. And I decided to go to get rid of. In the "Contact" my mother was convinced that the opposition were recruiting children, then to transport them abroad. And they were subjected to a very strict interrogation about my political views there. When we moved to family affairs, they also said that I was to blame for everything. They imposed on me some kind of volunteer work, I said that I would think about it, but in fact I do not want to participate in anything that was connected with them.

At some point, Ira decided to leave the house and spend the night at the station. Upon learning of this, Olga Smirnova invited her to her. An attempt to spend the night with Olga ended with the persecution, brawls and entering the police of the entire Irina family and three activists of "solidarity". One of them, Vsevolod Neelaev , calls shocking the events that he had to become a participant.

- Police officers did not understand anything. They interrogated Ira, to which they had no right, and they did not even have a thought that a child psychologist needed this. They did not respond to her requests, and then screams for help when her parents force her to go home by force. When my father began to apply physical strength to her, grab her neck, I had to push him away. Then he tried to say that he only wanted to correct the scarf at his daughter. The police had such a picture: four relatives and two police officers brought Ira from the black move and convinced that she had to go home, because she was not 18 years old. I believe that it was such behavior of police officers who gave the parents of Ira even more consciousness of their innocence - confidence that you can treat my daughter as a thing.

The behavior of police officers gave Ira's parents confidence that you can handle my daughter as a thing

It is clear that the situation of activists of "solidarity" is quite sensitive: they feel responsible for a minor girl who came to their organization, but at the same time they are forced to protect her not from anyone, but from parents. Activists wanted to go only legally, therefore they turned to the guardianship authorities, although now they regret it. A particularly painful impression was made by this appeal to the co -chair of the St. Petersburg "solidarity" Olga Smirnova .

- An employee of the guardianship authority immediately told me that Ira was to blame for everything, that her parents were right, and also shared her personal experience with me - it turns out she beat her own child and once trampled his phone. What can we talk about with such a social worker?

- Ira told how she found you. And on your part, what did her come to the organization look like?

-When she wrote to me “VKontakte” and asked us, I immediately looked at her page and decided that someone who has been, and she would never be with us: everything was in a pronounced communist spirit. And I began to answer her simply out of politeness, so as not to offend, but further communication showed that the girl was very serious, that she was ready to reconsider her views. She asked for six months to think, but made a decision much earlier. On December 20, she came to the Solovetsky stone on our action in memory of victims of political repression. People brought there photographs of their executed or relatives sitting in the Gulag. And there came provocateurs with portraits of Beria, Yezhov, Hitler, Goebbels - and on each there was an inscription "The victim of political repression." This was offensive to all participants in our action. Ira saw how we behaved, what was happening, and it was then that she came up to me and said that she decided that she wanted to be with us. I told her that while she was not 18, she will be just our supporter, but it turned out differently. Ira began to complain about the unbearable situation in the family, and by that time I already knew her quite well as a restrained courageous person, a real fighter, and I realized that if Ira complains, then the matter is really bad. And it turned out that when, after the split of "solidarity" we established our new organization, Ira became not just her member, but even the founder. We made an exception for her - she said that if she is a valid member, then this would morally support her.

Ira herself says that her views began to change from the communist to democratic when the war with Ukraine began: she said, she realized that the left were advocating to cut off the Donbass from Ukraine, to bring it to trouble, and this was very outraged by. So her arrival in "solidarity" was really completely conscious-although every day she was trying to convince her every day that her views are not at all, but inspired by her opposition enemies.

Ira’s atmosphere does not improve. She complains about health - in particular, that her face and part of the body periodically numb. When Ira speaks of her misfortune, it can be seen how hard it is to her, how she is burdened by the situation in which the people who raised her, whom she loved all her life, suddenly practically put her under house arrest and made her life unbearable.

Ira wrote a statement addressed to the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child in St. Petersburg Svetlana Agapitova , she was appointed day and time when she could come, but the meeting had to be postponed - Ira's parents were against it and did not let her go. The next day, she managed to slip away from college and get to the reception, but the campaign was expensive. The college of traditional culture before that did not complicate Irina’s life, but for some reason the visit to the children's Ombudsman for some reason was outraged by the leadership, and now Ira threaten all kinds of punishments-that they will give her a “wolf ticket”, with which she will not be received anywhere else, that they will warn the guards and dressing rooms and will not let her go out into the street even to the children's room, which will be sent to the children's room police.

On a trip to the children's Ombudsman, Iru was accompanied by an activist of Solidarity Alexei Bulgarov .

While we were sitting next to the cafe, they called her a hundred times and scared that they would abduct her now

- At the reception, some moments alerted her: she realized that the woman who took her was not Svetlana Agapitova, but her assistant believes that if her parents do not beat her and are not sealed, then, in general, everything is fine, and there is no reason to intervene in the internal affairs of the family. Nevertheless, she was listened and said that they would call her parents for a conversation with a family psychologist. And the request for escort was not in vain - her parents calculated her, dad rushed there, and, thank God, we managed to leave the room before his arrival. And while we were sitting nearby in a cafe, they called her a hundred times and scared that they would abduct her now. As far as I know, Ira’s position was still worsening at home - this is again almost a house arrest.

Says the head of the press service of the children's Ombudsman Oleg Alekseev :

- Our specialist, after a conversation with the girl, invited her to undergo a mediation procedure, since the situation in the family, relationships with her parents causes anxiety. Mediation is a reconciliation with the participation of a mediator, in fact it is a psychologist who is engaged in conflict relations and helps two sides of the conflict find a compromise, a solution that arranges all, to establish relationships. It is already known that Ira agrees, and our parents will now propose to go through this procedure. What will happen next, we do not know.

So far no one knows this. One thing can be said - for Ira is very alarming. In her soul there is no enmity to her relatives, but whether the girl can withstand all these shocks, is not very clear. Ira is ready to compromise, she wants peace in the family, but is not ready to be a toy in the hands of her loved ones and insists that she is an independent person and has the right to her own beliefs.