I wanted to get Navalny out of Avtosak: an interview with my daughter Alexander Shpakov

Your father really went to Navalny’s action because you decided to go?

- Yes, as a future journalist, I decided to see what was happening there, watch the people, for the situation. My father decided not to let me alone so that no one touched me, no troubles were about.

Until March 26, did your father not participate in political actions?

- No, never.

That is, you went to Pushkinskaya Square not as a participant, and you didn’t make the material for any media, but just wanted to see what the political action looks like?

- Yes. When I was driving, I did not know that the rally was not allowed.

And what happened there?

- Everyone shouted, protested. Then Navalny was put in a car factory. My father decided to stand up for him. He does not like it when something bad happens to people, and if he can somehow help, he will not sit aside. He decided to shit and went to Avtosak. And then you know.

Navalny says that he tried to shoot what was happening in a car carrier.

“But he was not allowed to do it.” He took off a piece, but he gives nothing. I constantly called my father - every half an hour or an hour. He was brought to the hospital, then he left there, because he needed to work. Then he went home - I was not at home at that time - and stopped answering calls. I did not return home, because I was uneasy, I called hospitals and police sections. Then I wrote a lawyer Konstantin Spivak, who was assigned to him. He very unpleasantly talked with me: “Bring your father to eat, otherwise it will be bad ... Let's meet, talk, not on the phone ...” Perhaps they could also hold me back. I had a panic, I did not understand what was happening. I didn’t like the lawyer, and I turned to my relatives, they advised me not to go to meet him. The lawyer took me out, tried to pull a bunch of money that was not at all.

From a lawyer on his appointment, he wanted to become a paid lawyer?

- I just wanted money for my work.

In general, the state pays him.

- Here, I wanted. I came home: I did not know what happened there. Everything is turned upside down at home, a computer’s system unit and all informational media disappeared. (Then they returned them quickly enough). I went to my neighbors. They said that they were understood: the police came and took my father ... Then lawyer Sergei Badamshin contacted me, the courts began ...

Before that, you knew what “ open Russia ” is? (Badamshin works with Open Russia.- OTD-Info )

- Before that, no. But Badamshin called my aunt, and she was a supported woman, and only then did Badamshin spoke to me. I would not dare to contact strangers.

Was the court about a month after the detention?

- Approximately, yes. This time he was in a pre -trial detention center at the Water Stadium. I don’t know about the conditions there, my dad did not tell me about them. I came to visit him, I managed to go twice. There we saw each other, talked about this. There is a room that shares glass. On the contrary, your interlocutor sits, and there is a telephone pipe on which you speak. There are many such booths in the room. Very dirty, everything is poorly organized. We recorded several times with the godfather. It was such that we could sit all day and not get into a conversation. My father did not say anything about the pre -trial detention center: he said this information is useless to me. So that I did not worry, said that everything is fine.

Was it obvious to you that the sentence would be accusatory?

- I, unlike my grandmother, was obvious. No one would just let him go. If they were released, people might have thought that you can go to rallies and beat the police. Although he did not beat anyone. He simply burst into the bus, they beat him there, and then the beating was covered with criminal proceedings.

A free lawyer recommended the guilt of your father?

- Yes. My dad did not want to, but they crushed him. In addition, he had no connection with relatives, he thought that he was abandoned, and decided: I would sit out and sit.

Why did he not refuse to admit guilt?

- I did not hear the person to be released if he refused to admit guilt.

Have you been interrogated on the case?

- Yes, in the Investigative Committee. Almost immediately after the arrest, the police traveled at my relatives, waited for me at the house to call for interrogation. They called me at eleven in the evening and told me to come. I replied that it was too late and not clear how after the interrogation I would get home. We agreed that I would come the next morning. This was before Badamshin took up the matter. I went with my friend, they interrogated me for a very long time, found out all the details. They asked about my political views and views of my father. But I am an apolitical person, I had nothing to say. My father was told that Navalny is from America, and if my father does not admit, the organization of everything that was on Pushkinskaya would be hung on him. When there was a court, Navalny seemed to promise to come, but did not come-he led some kind of broadcast.

Did your father beat on interrogations?

“I don't know that.”

There is no video in the case against your father, just the testimonies of the police?

- Yes. It was recorded in the case that the father had bodily harm, but this was explained by the police self -defense. The victim Gonikov in court asked his father not to plant.

Was the father suppressed?

- He held on well, but he was emaciated, there were bruises under his eyes, he looked painful. After the sentence, he was quickly sent to the colony. Now he is sitting in IK-3 , Safonovo, Smolensk region. I came there with my uncle, everything was organized there well. I wanted a long date, but they gave only a short one, for three hours. Chamber with glass in a colony worse than they were in a pre -trial detention center in Moscow. The father also does not tell anything about the colony. The colony is six hours from Moscow, I cannot, unfortunately, visit him often. He is still thin, with bags under his eyes. It does not look very.

I saw your father in the Moscow City Court, I can’t say that he is thin: he is strong.

-Before that, he was generally in the body. If we compare what he was, he lost weight.

How do you evaluate what happened?

- For me, all this is very distant, I did not think that this could happen to me. I had no idea that for a year and a half I would be left without a father. For me, for my grandmother it is very difficult. We are really waiting for him, the good did not remain long. He must go out in September.

How does he feel about this?

- He did not give any assessments. Apparently, he reconciled with this outcome. I'm waiting for him to come out, then we will talk normally. Friends and relatives are waiting for him, very worried.

Why was he sent to a schizo?

- Apparently, they considered that he wrote to the president, because Ksenia Sobchak asked him to let him go. I don’t know why in the colony they decided that my dad managed to reach the president, it’s even funny. He also found a personal sweater under his clothes, and this is considered a violation.

About “reaching the president” they said informally?

-They said that they had never heard that Ksenia Sobchak helps one of the prisoners. So my dad wrote somewhere . In my opinion , Nemirovskaya (Polina Nemirovskaya, an employee of Open Russia- ATS-Info ) wrote about this.

And what difference does the colony are when your father will be released?

-Apparently, in principle, they do not believe that prisoners have any rights.

Representatives of Sobchak contacted you?

- No, I learned about her request from the media.

What does your father do in the colony?

-He says-works, learns to some kind of business. In general, he is a good carpenter, specializes in the manufacture of wooden stairs. In the colony learning something else, not related to the processing of a tree. Honestly, I don’t remember what.

What conclusions did you draw from this story?

- What sooner or later you have to grow up, especially when you are actually one. And that even for the sake of interest you do not need to climb into such events. It all happened because the father burst into the car gut, and the police did not like it.

And he tried to pick up Navalny from there.

- Yes. Superhero. They also needed more people for a demonstration court. To show: sit at home, do not go to rallies, you will be more purpose. You can sit down, even if you did anything.

Have you talked with relatives of other people who were imprisoned for March 26?

- No.

How will these events affect your future journalistic specialization?

- I thought about it. I guess I will not write about politics. It is dangerous for me and loved ones. This is already, to put it mildly, I got bored. I plan to engage in sports journalism. Maybe write about culture. Sergei Badamshin introduced me to one editor, I could start writing about politics, but I had such apathy that I refused. I could not do anything at all. And this is not the situation on which you need to leave as a journalist.

It is difficult, of course, to imagine, but if you just left from Pushkinskaya Square home, what would you have an impression?

-Still, it seems to me that everything looked very ridiculous. Basically, there were schoolchildren, if schoolchildren simply shout slogans, it will not give anything. This can not even be called a pleasant pastime. If you do something , then in the other ways, and not go to the square and scream.

Did you get the impression that the crowd was inadequate?

- To put it mildly.

Did the police behave correctly?

- On the one hand, probably, right - the rally was unauthorized, they had to ... calm him down. On the other hand, they beat people who did nothing. They fabricated criminal cases. The police had to act ... calmer.

When did you enter the journalism department, what did you want to write about?

-I did not particularly imagine, journalism for me was something new. In addition to studying, I also do design.

Your father was traveling to protect you. Did something threaten you at this rally ?

- No, nothing threatened me. Of course, a crowd of people, it is not clear who will behave like himself, people are pushing. But if you stand on the sidelines, what can happen?

Who is to blame for everything that happened: schoolchildren, Navalny, police?

-Everyone is to blame in their own way . In any case, this is life experience, although negative.