“If I return to Russia, they will send me to a pre-trial detention center”: interview with the head of the Siberia without Torture foundation

The head of the Siberia Without Torture Foundation, Svyatoslav Khromenkov, went to a conference in Bulgaria in December. At this time, in Irkutsk, searches came to his apartment and the apartment of his wife, and the organization's accounts were blocked. Khromenkov decided to temporarily stay abroad. He told OVD-Info how and why he was being persecuted.

It is not yet clear when you will be able to return?

Yes, it's not clear yet. But I want to say right away: I intend to return, I am not going to apply for asylum.

Are you in Bulgaria now?

Let's put it this way: I'm not in Russia.

There are details, what kind of criminal case you are going through?

“The criminal case [on which the searches were carried out] was initiated against an outsider. In 2015, I worked as a paralegal. The detained lawyer named Noskov worked in the same board as me. We interacted at work. He is charged with the fourth part of the 159th article (article of the Criminal Code on fraud - OVD-Info ). Allegedly, Noskov encroached on some money.

I became interesting to the investigation, because I worked with him at the same time in the same collegium, I have no status in the case. In this regard, they came with a search to our human rights organization (the apartment of Svyatoslav Khromenkov is also the office of Siberia Without Torture - OVD-Info ) and to my wife's apartment.

Please note that the search [at my place] was carried out in the apartment, and they had a decision to search in a non-residential premises. According to the Housing Code, I have the right to work where I live. At the same time, searches in residential premises, in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure, cannot be carried out without a court sanction.

The decision was issued by the FSB, it was they who sent the investigation team. Employees of the FSB, the Investigative Committee, the police, as well as SOBR came to provide power support. [The door to the apartment] was sawed out by the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations with a grinder.

On December 10 [2019], a criminal case was initiated, on December 12, they came to search my house, and on December 17, they came to my [common-law] wife’s apartment. On this day we planned the wedding. The accounts of Siberia Without Torture were blocked.

Why were the accounts blocked?

- We have a decision of the tax authority that the accounts are blocked. To find out the grounds, I need to come to Russia.

You said that charges are being prepared against you for some kind of extremist literature. Where does such information come from?

“We are trying to find out if there is any criminal case against me. Unofficially, we are told that it was initiated on extremism. This is some kind of nonsense. To be honest, I only read legal literature. Only in evacuation, here, I read Yesenin's poems.

Moreover, in addition to storing [extremist literature, for a criminal case], it is necessary to prove its distribution. I conducted more than 60 trainings for civil activists, but did not disseminate anything like that. Unless they try to throw something. After the search on December 12, we were not given a copy of the protocol listing what was seized. The lawyer and my mother, who were present at the search, did not see any books being planted and seized. On December 17, no books were confiscated from my wife either.

What exactly is lawyer Noskov accused of, in whose case you had a search?

- He has a decision of the arbitration court to recover money from some commercial organization. He took the writ of execution and presented it. This is imputed to him as attempted fraud. The authorities decided to overcome the obligation to execute the judicial act and claim that he committed acts that have signs of a crime.

I don’t understand: if there is a court decision, where is the fraud?

“I don’t know where the fraud is either, it’s some kind of legal fiction. By law, every judicial act is binding. According to this judicial act, Noskov received a writ of execution that he was owed some amount. I presented it, I don’t know where - probably to the bailiff’s service. This money was not recovered, because the company had no money, as far as I understand. But the very fact that he wanted to recover the money was considered an attempt at fraud.

Very cool. That is, a case was opened against lawyer Noskov not only to put pressure on you, but did he have any problems with the authorities?

- He is a former prosecutor, deals with land disputes. Friends told me that he did not share with the FSB agents. Allegedly, Noskov did not cede some piece of land to the FSB officers, they were offended and decided to pursue him. [He is credited with] an economic crime. Putin said that the economy should not be imprisoned, and Noskov - in a pre-trial detention center. He recently had his detention extended because he won't confess.

And they pulled you up when they realized that you knew each other.

— I [go] with a trailer. Apparently, they figured out my last name, they thought: why don't we search Khromenkov? What was seized [in my apartment]? They seized my mother's money, which she saved for a mortgage, recently selling an apartment. Six units of office equipment: computers, laptops - we broadcast streams. [Some of them] were bought with a grant from the UN, as well as personal laptops of volunteers. Financial documentation for 2019 was confiscated from us, despite the fact that [a criminal case on an attempted fraud] was initiated on the events of 2015.

On December 17, have you already decided not to temporarily return to Russia, despite the fact that you had previously planned a wedding with your common-law wife on that day?

— [I was told] how the search at my house was carried out, with how many violations. I realized that if I return to Russia, they will also send me to a pre-trial detention center. We planned a wedding on December 17 at 17:00, they came at lunchtime, around 14:00. It was as if they specifically wanted to disrupt the wedding. The search went on for four hours.

Why is "Siberia Without Torture" and you personally subjected to pressure?

“Together with the Public Verdict Foundation, we are dealing with the case of torture of Marina Ruzaeva in the Usolsky police department. Soon it will be the fourth year that we have been dealing with this case, soon it will be sent to court, [the Ministry of Internal Affairs] employees are being charged. The defendants are three operatives. The case was repeatedly dismissed, we got the Siberian Federal District to deal with it - the investigation team came from Novosibirsk, [it does not include] people from Irkutsk.

We have four more criminal cases in progress, in which nine law enforcement officers appear. The search on December 12 was conducted by an investigator who [previously investigated and] dismantled Ruzayeva's case, and is now a witness in it. A week ago, this investigator was interrogated as a witness, and now he came to me with a search. Last year, we helped prosecute four [law enforcement] officers, three operatives, and one PPS nick.

Do I understand correctly that the “victims” of “Siberia without Torture” are mostly employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs? Why is the FSB working against you then?

- My opinion: we have a torture conveyor in the Irkutsk region in SIZO-1, SIZO-6 and in the Usolsky temporary detention center (IVS). We published lists of "developers" - those who torture the arrested, cooperating with the authorities under the law on operational-search activities. They have official contracts, they even try to get a pension for the fact that people were tortured in the pre-trial detention center. A commission from Moscow has already arrived in SIZO-1 to investigate complaints about the “developers”. One of them, Andrei Bevzyuk, nicknamed "Mafia", seized a notebook with personal data of people who were "developed". I assume that the FSB is not profitable for us to stop this pipeline. There will be no torture, their detection rate will drop, they will not be able to fabricate cases.

- Do you think there is a chance that they will stop persecuting you and you will be able to return to Russia without hindrance?

We have been working for the third year with the UN, I am proud of this cooperation. We effectively protect ordinary people. We assumed that an evacuation might be needed, that I might have to leave. I was ready to land. These are the risks: we fight for human rights not because it's an easy job, but because it has to be done. The security protocol is working for us: I left and remotely manage the organization, all the rest are in place. Lawyers, volunteers - all together almost forty people.

I love and am proud of my homeland, I want to return. I do not want to run away from the dangers: the only thing I ask is that the authorities investigate objectively, if there are any claims against me, they must be substantiated. And not for SOBR to break into my apartment, and an EMERCOM officer to wave a grinder in front of my mother's face.