"I will always fight for justice"

The Kuban activist Daria Polyudova, sentenced to two years for calls for separatism, complains of beating and pressure in the colony where she is serving a sentence. Radio Liberty was told about this by Polyudova's mother. According to her, other convicts first oppressed her daughter, then the use of physical strength began. The bosses of the colony, according to the mother of the activist, says that the convict herself provokes conflict situations.

28-year-old Kuban activist Daria Polyudova has been in a colony-settlement No. 10 in Novorossiysk for a year and a half. In December 2015, the October Court of Krasnodar found her guilty of calls for extremist activity and separatism for publication on the VKontakte social network, in March 2016 a higher court confirmed this decision, and Polyudova was sent to the colony.

As the mother of Daria Polyudova, Tatyana, told Radio Liberty, in the correctional institution, the daughter began problems with other prisoners. According to Tatyana Polyudova, first Daria “depressed morally” - they made comments, shifted her things, in particular, “threw a frying pan into the trash,” and after that physical pressure began. According to Tatyana Polyudova, Daria hit a stool. In protest, she declared a hunger strike several times, but now she stopped, because the stomach began to hurt and dizziness began:

“They oppressed her morally and insulted her in every possible way,” says Tatyana Polyudova in an interview with Radio Radio, “they constantly said to her:“ You put it in the wrong place ... You smell of you ... ”Although she never smells of anything, she is a cleaned girl. And moral oppression is worse than physical. Then they hit her head, someone says that a comb ... and she told me: "Mom, my head after that began to hurt." Three weeks have already passed, about a month, maybe back, when they hit her on the head. And then a stool. They simply, it seems to me, calls on a fight, provoke to be given a new term, extended and that’s all.

- Do you think these girls do it on their own initiative? Or does they have pressure from the colony?

-If they did this on their own initiative, the administration would somehow punish them, I think. And Dasha goes to complain about them, writes statements, but they do not take any measures to them. They say to Dasha, on the contrary: "You yourself are to blame, you yourself provoke them on this."

They simply call her to a fight, provoke to be given a new term

- And when did the story with a stool occur?

- Two weeks ago. She called me and said: “Mom, they beat me with a stool, I beat Lukashuk - on the shoulder ...” She has an abrasion on her forearm, she informed me about this on the phone. She kept a hunger strike three times! From a good life, she would not hold a hunger strike? And the third time, when my father came to her on a date. He went to her on August 29, and from there he left. And from the 31st she began to hold a hunger strike because when her father came to her colony, he went to this Lukashuk and said: "Why are you offending Dasha?" He is a teacher, he began to talk to her in a good way. “Why do you insult her, why are you beating her? Come to her and in my presence in front of her,” he told her. She said: "I'm not going to apologize, I’ll run to this now (there is some kind of major), and your date will be stopped." She went, this major went out, and Dashin Papa, Vladimir Nikolaevich, says: "Why did you curse her with obscene abuse?" He says: "What are you, I never swear in my life with obscene abuse!" And Dasha was so offended by the fact that he yelled at dad, that because of this, since this, from August 31, to keep a hunger strike for the third time. She demanded that he was somehow punished for unfairly insulting his father.

Daria Polyudova with a picket in support of "Prisoners of Bolotnaya"

After she was beaten with a stool, the head of the colony seemed to transfer this Lukashuk to another room, and left Dasha in the same. Well, there one of the prisoners was offended, apparently, this was Lukashuk's girlfriend, and decided to beat Dasha on the same day. She began to beat her, and Dasha took and pulled her under the video camera. Dasha wrote a statement to her to make a criminal case, and the head of the colony accepted this statement, it seems. The head of the colony called me twice, told me what the situation is at the moment there. Dasha was taken for examination, they carried it to forensic medical examination. Now she stopped the hunger strike, because the stomach, dizziness became very ill, and the boss said: "If she does not stop the hunger strike, we will be forcibly feed her."

- I understand correctly that in conversations the head of the colony says that Dasha herself provokes all these cases?

- Yes! "She already got everyone here!" - He says. And she, on the contrary, helps everyone there, writes something, some legal documents there. She is a lawyer, a smart girl. She never lies! Here she has this feature: even if she will be bad for her, but she will never lie. I said to the boss: "Why are you listening to the convicts, and not Dasha? Dasha has never been lying! She has never lied in her life!" I, as a mother, vouch for her. He is silent.

Nobody understands me, because I am the only one here is political prison

“When the last time you saw me when you went to her?”

- I went to her at the end of July. She already said then: “Mom, you know how hard it is for me. Nobody understands me, because I’m the only one here is political prisoner, the rest are all just convicted, they don’t understand me at all. I am very difficult for me here!” I say: "Daughter, I told you that there is not a sanatorium, I warned you."

- What is her regime in this colony now, what are the conditions? Is it in a general detachment or somehow isolated?

- All in all. Although the boss promised me, he told me: "I have a room for vacationers here, let me move her alone to this room, let it live there." I say: "Well, of course! We will be grateful to you if you do that." And Dasha then calls me and says: "Mom, you see, what a liar! He is lying, do not listen to him." I say: "Did he offer you to settle separately?" - "No, I live in a common room."

“Have you discussed any plans with her after her release?”

- Yes, I asked her, well, she said: "Mom, of course, I will, but not so ... But I will always fight for justice!" So she said, ”says Tatyana Polyudova.

Promotion in support of Daria Polyudova in Moscow, April 2016

The lawyer Daria Polyudova Irina Biryukova in an interview with Radio Liberty said that she knew only one conflict situation. She intends to contact the prosecutor’s office for correctional institutions to check the rest of the information:

The fact that someone allegedly beat her with a stool, I learned only from my mother’s post on Tuesday morning. I talked with Dasha after lunch on Monday

- On September 4, Dasha called me from the colony, we talked with her for about twenty minutes, discussed our immediate plans for submitting an application to replace the punishment, and so on. She told me about the conflict that she had with one of the convicts that this convicted person hit her on the head or cheek, which she complained to the leadership of the colony, and the leadership of the colony told her that she herself had to be treated. We discussed where to file a complaint, to the prosecutor’s office, I explained everything to her, and she had to file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office for checking these actions. I do not know about any other beatings from her. If there was something like that, for sure, in 20 minutes of conversation, Dasha would have told me about such an incident, and I would take some urgent measures.

Irina Biryukova

The fact that someone allegedly beat her, a stool or something else, I learned only from my mother’s post on Tuesday morning. I talked with Dasha after lunch on Monday. I told my mother that I did not know anything about this beating, although I was talking on the eve of Dasha, and asked about when this incident happened when she was beaten. I thought, maybe after our conversation she was beaten. And my mother told me that it was a few days ago. I can’t say whether this is true or not, I can only say that I don’t know anything about this from Dasha, although we talked with her for a long time right on the eve of my mother’s post. Of course, if I knew about this situation from her, as a reliable, of course, I would take some urgent measures to allow it. Dasha has the opportunity to call, like any convict, from the colony, and she actively uses these calls, she calls me periodically. Therefore, if something happened, I think she would have given me to know about it as her lawyer.

-Are you planning to check this information now?

- Yes, sure! We plan, and we will check it, this information, how reliable it is. Naturally, we will make a request to the prosecutor's office for supervision of a correctional institution so that they check this information, how true it is. I can’t call Dasha, because she uses a telephone connection in the established mode, and I always accept calls from her. But while she does not call, we are taking measures in order to find out how true the information was, it was or not, and if it was, how serious everything was, ”concludes Irina Biryukova.

The sentence of Daria Polyudova expires on October 22, 2017. It should be released two days earlier-October 20, since the 22nd falls on the weekend.

The Kuban activist, the organizer of the "march for the federalization of the Kuban", was convicted of several posts on the social network "VKontakte". The investigation and the court considered extremist reposting pictures with the text “Ethnic Ukrainians of the Kuban want to join Ukraine” and a record in which Polyudova imposes responsibility for all the attacks and troubles in Russia on Vladimir Putin and asks why the Russians, like Ukrainians, cannot overthrow the regime. Daria Polyudova denies guilty and believes that she is pursued for political views. The Memorial human rights center introduced the Kuban activist on the list of political prisoners.