"We need to fight against the system"

Russian economist, state and public figure, supervisor of the Higher School of Economics, Yevgeny Yasin, talks about human rights in Russia and explains why it is necessary to help the "School of Public Defender"

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I’ll start with the sad - in Russia human rights are not protected today, and this is no secret to anyone. I do not think that this is connected with the character of the people, rather, with the evolution of law as such in Rus', where power has always dominated. It was a hierarchy first to the princely, then royal, and then Bolshevik power. Most people are accustomed to the fact that such is fate, and that the one who is stronger has more rights.

The very idea of ​​equality of rights began to penetrate into Russia after the reforms of Alexander II, especially after the judicial reform. Before that, there were only estates of class: the boyars, nobles, merchants, peasants - though the latest rights had practically no rights. Previously, too, of course, there were laws, but these were laws written by the "master."

It is unnecessary to remind how things were with human rights under the Soviet regime. Despite the fact that the Bolshevik revolution itself began with the idea of ​​equality for everyone, later this concept changed. It seems to be formally the law, but he again served on the side of the strong.

The reforms of the 1990s sought to significantly change the Soviet system. They began with freedom of price and market relations, and in order to function correctly, they had to be backed up by the relevant laws, and the court had to ensure that these laws are compliance.

The President is everywhere about the rule of law. But this does not mean the rule of law

Now in Russia the right is based on the fact that each time another law is adopted, which put us in more and more difficult conditions that we must fulfill. For example, the law on foreign agents, a package of spring and others. According to the idea of ​​law, laws should not be written like that. Laws designed only to complicate life and limit human freedom are wrong laws. Such laws do not serve the right as such, but to strengthen the current government.

As Nicholas I said, the law must be observed, but I will come up with the law. The President of Russia is a lawyer, and he knows the laws well. And for him, a way out of any complexity is to come up with a new legal decision, to issue a new law. He talks everywhere about the rule of law. But this does not mean the rule of law. The word "law" more meets human concepts of justice than the word "law", which has now slightly lost its value. The law became an instrument of power.

Despite all this, I look at the future of our country optimistic. I am convinced that over time, we, as a country, develop the habit of guiding human rights and become a legal state. True, I am one hundred percent convinced that I myself will not live before.

I see no reason to think that in Russia there will never be a legal state

There are certain conditions for the development of social relations, they are united all over the world. Public institutions corresponding to new conditions develop very gradually, and this is a normal process. Such institutions, which are the basis of modern Russia, were developed only in 1991. That is, only 25 years have passed. This is nothing compared to how much democracy in Western countries developed.

There this process occupied hundreds of years, just think about it. In the UK, first, the parliament in 1649 chopped off the head of King Charles I, then there was Oliver Cromwell, then they returned the monarchy, but it already became constitutional. And even then it was not democracy yet. The development of suffrage went there from 1830 to 1928, when the Labor Party first came to power, which adopted the law on universal electoral law.

Evgeny Yasin photo: Pavel Volkov for TD

About the same amount of time this process took in France, in the USA and in other Western democracies. Therefore, to think that with us he will go faster, pointless. But you should not despair either. Putin’s reign is also part of the process, quite logical. But I see no reason to think that it will last forever, and in Russia democracy will never come, and there will be no legal state. Otherwise, it simply cannot be. The historical process, which has been held in Western countries, goes with us, and over time we will be there. We just later started what they were, but over time we will come to freedom and to law.

It usually happens like this: most people submit to the existing order, but among them there is one, and then one more and more that resist. And over time, the progress occurs, and that which was possible, gradually becomes a rule for a slightly wider circle of people.

Therefore, you can and should fight against the system. No matter how hopeless the future seem to be “a stone sharpens”, so any system is rebuilt and begins to take into account human rights, absorbing new phenomena. Now there are more and more fair court decisions. Yes, while they mainly occur where there is no large accumulation of the interests of the power sides.

Of course, the traditional power of the hierarchy is still strong in society, but now it is more and more favorable conditions for life. And even if your interests intersect with the interests of those who are stronger than you, do not forget that there are also different groups in the authorities, between which there are often their differences. And this just enables each citizen to defend his rights.

An ordinary person is often defenseless before the Russian judicial system

Unfortunately, an ordinary person is often defenseless before the Russian judicial system. And not so much because the system itself is unfair, but because of ignorance of its own rights and laws. This sometimes leads to the fact that a person appears before the trial alone. Sometimes there is no money for a lawyer, and lawyers appointed by the state do not work in the interests of the defendant. And sometimes a person, without knowing it, makes mistakes that he could avoid.

Fortunately, there is a way out. It is called the "School of the Public Defender." This is a place where they teach all the necessary legal and legal knowledge and do it for free. Everyone can sign up for courses and learn to protect himself and his loved ones in court. Often, it is relatives and friends who are ready to fight for a person who has fallen into trouble, and the law allows them to do this in the status of a public defender. But they simply lack knowledge.

But the public defender has as much right as a lawyer. He has access to the accused in places of imprisonment, and at the hearing can request documents and attach evidence, send requests, ask questions to witnesses and clients and so on. Relatives who become public defenders, as a rule, have all the necessary qualities - activity, assertiveness, talent. They lack only special knowledge.

The school can and is ready to share this knowledge with everyone and, I repeat, is absolutely free. But she exists on donations, and she needs money. To pay lecturers (and these are professional lawyers), to rent premises, to print textbooks.

The Help Foundation helps to raise money for the work of the school. To arrange a small, but regular donation is very simple. Everyone can do this. And not even so much for the sake of others as for yourself. Because if you suddenly need help, you will have it.