Usually it's not about you

Pskov journalist Svetlana Prokopieva shares her experience: what it's like to suddenly find yourself under a serious criminal article and go through a search

Reality leans in like a green police shield and pushes against the wall. Stunned - this word is similar to what you feel when you start a search . Yes, it is you, and not someone else from the news.

It's somewhere between shock and surprise. Events unfold faster than you can believe. Your biography, it seems, does not hint even in the penumbra that they can come to your house with a search. But four comrades-in-arms, three opera officers, one investigator plus two witnesses can hardly pass for a hallucination.

Keep in mind: they did not come to you - they came to the criminal. They look at you through the wording of the Criminal Code. They do their job, act according to instructions - but all their instructions are tailored to work with criminals.

Here, in the literal sense, it is necessary to "catch up with what is happening." Realizing that I was “late,” I retreated in front of the overwhelming force of law enforcement and quietly sank into a chair, with my back to the wall. Looking up at the guests, I waited for synchronization with reality: so, the case has been initiated, now I will be left without equipment. An unpassword-protected laptop is in plain sight, and I won’t have time to exit the applications.

Now my concern will not be to finally finish the damn renovation, and not sit down for seven years.

By virtue of my profession, I read a lot about how searches and detentions work. I knew it was an unpleasant and lengthy process, even if your floors are not opened. Believe me, it does not help to prepare. Yes, I knew that a check had begun, that there might be a criminal case, but a search? What can they look for at my house, if the alleged "corpus delicti" is published on the network? After the bell rang, I opened the door without even looking through the peephole.

It might be good that it is. After the interrogation, the investigator admitted that SOBR had the right (and was ready) to break down the door if they did not open it. It was not enough to fix the door.

In general, a couple of short tips for those who want to survive this procedure with minimal energy loss. First, keep in mind: they did not come to you - they came to the criminal. And even to a dangerous criminal, if the article suggests (mine, for example). That is, it is probably not necessary to conduct a search with the participation of SOBR at a journalist, but perhaps yes, at a suspect under a terrorist article. They look at you through the wording of the Criminal Code. They do their job, act according to instructions - but all their instructions are tailored to work with criminals. Try to imagine a real terrorist in your place, and brave guys in bulletproof vests will no longer seem like an expensive excess.

(This probably sounded like an excuse for the actions of the repressive machine. But I was only trying to explain. Now you catch the difference, comrade major?)

You must have a lawyer. Every person in this country should have a lawyer. You can only call a lawyer after the start of investigative actions, and you will not have another channel of communication with the outside world for many long hours

I felt in my gut that my task was to break this stereotype. I am not a criminal. “Don’t do this to me” is the first thing that bursts out, but more important is not to behave like their usual clients. Do not be rude, do not resist, do not insult. maximum suitability.

Moreover, the investigator clearly stated that my behavior in the course of investigative actions matters. I tried to calm down, pull myself together and not argue once again. The fact that now I am without a preventive measure is the result of not only instant publicity, but also the fact that I am a bunny. A hospitable hostess who does not mind a glass of water and a smoke on the balcony.

Although publicity is, of course, more important. And here we come to the most fundamental point: the lawyer. You must have a lawyer. Every person in this country should have a lawyer (do not believe the ministers who whine that there are too many lawyers and not enough tractor drivers). No way without a lawyer. Only you will be able to make a call to a lawyer after the start of investigative actions, and you will not have another channel of communication with the outside world for many long hours. No one, except a lawyer, will protect you from provocations. Do not rely on witnesses - they will bring witnesses with them. Students of a law school will see in a search not a cynical violation of someone else's private life, but their future work.

I am incredibly lucky to be friends and cooperate with an excellent lawyer Tatyana Martynova. She arrived in a matter of minutes, and even managed to inform my colleagues about the beginning of the search. So everything turned around.

If instead of a lawyer I had a tantrum, and journalists were not waiting under the windows of the house, the present state of affairs would be much sadder, for sure.

You have to spit on nostalgia. Let everything valuable go to the cloud, and everything unnecessary to the furnace. It hasn't been used so far, so it won't be needed any more.

The third advice (not as important as about a lawyer): do not keep any nonsense at home! Any sheet of paper - plus a minute to search. The operative will check every page, every notebook, every fucking postcard. Everything that is a pity to throw away or should, in theory, one day become a subject of nostalgia, during a search turns into an occasion for unnecessary questions and suspicions. And what kind of translation is this, Svetlana Vladimirovna? Where is your invitation? There is some abstract here, the Prosecutor General's Office is mentioned, can you explain? ..

For seventeen years of journalistic work, such rubbish accumulates hoo much, even adjusted for moving. You have to spit on nostalgia. Let everything valuable go to the cloud, and everything unnecessary to the furnace. So far it has not been useful, so it will not be needed further. Only diplomas and certificates of appreciation should be visible. Alas.

When now, after the search I went through, I imagine an ideal apartment for a suspect under a criminal article, it turns out to be not very residential. No old papers. Less cozy baskets and boxes. Laundry - fold in a pile in one row. Sign CDs, preferably in Russian. Everything of value goes to the cloud.

These are not very realistic conditions. A normal person does not live like this. But the fact of the matter is that today you can stop being a “normal person” in one moment. One day, SOBR comes and forcibly pulls you out of your normality onto the main pages of sites.

Today, all the federal media write about my case, make a statement to the OSCE and the Human Rights Council. For me, a resident of a small provincial town, a freelance correspondent for a number of publications, this is, to put it mildly, unusual. Yes, to be honest, generally surreal. As my friend told me: “You usually read this about someone else.”

But this is probably the problem, that reading about something like this has become a common thing. I look at my absurd criminal case, when I am threatened with a long prison term for words, and I immediately recall similar absurd cases, where public outcry did not prevent the investigation from achieving a guilty verdict. And how many such cases, the heroes of which had no connections with the media, remained behind the scenes? Absurdity is now an integral part of everyday life.

This is not pathos, but quite a banal statement: if it touches me, it can touch anyone. Just yesterday, I considered myself the most ordinary person, as far from the criminal world as the Earth is from a black hole. And suddenly it dragged on.

I wish you never be in my place. But I don't know what needs to be done to make sure this doesn't happen.