"Repressive rink in the style of the 30s." Eight years in the case of Bars

In Kaliningrad on Friday, the court sentenced the members of the Baltic Vanguard of the Russian Resistance group (BARS), who are under arrest from the fall of 2017 on charges of seizing power. According to lawyer Dmitry Dinze North. Reali, the leader of the group Alexander Orshulevich was convicted of eight years in prison, Igor Ivanov and Alexander Mamaev received six years. Nikolai Sentsov was sentenced to three years and released in the courtroom, since he left this term in jail.

Barc group-the movement of monarchists-marginals, adherents of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad. Four Kaliningraders were arrested in the fall of 2017. They were accused of creating and participating in a terrorist community, calls for extremism, storing weapons and explosive devices. According to investigators, the accused were about to seize power in the region and join the Kaliningrad region to the European Union.

This case of terrorism at the end of November 2019 began to listen to the 2nd Western District Military Court. Exit sessions passed in the Baltic Naval Military Court in Kaliningrad. At first they were open, and activists wrote in detail about the course of the court in social networks. Some even recognized secret witnesses, despite all their secrecy. In February 2020, Judge Mikhail Kudashkin demanded to stop commenting on the case on the Internet, and then closed meetings for several particularly active social activists. Since March, due to Pandemia of Coronavirus, the process was completely closed.

- The investigation was preparing secret witnesses. The court interviewed them in detail. They confused in the testimony, they could not confirm their words, ”says the social activist Lyudmila Zelinskaya , who actively visited the hearing before the prohibition of the judge. - First, the court drove the listeners for the slightest violation of silence, since the process is crowded. Then they removed everyone from the coronavirus.

Before the announcement of the verdict, the activists made a collective statement, where they demanded a fair court for members, and at the same time reminded of the "insolvency and anecdotality of the testimonies of secret witnesses," Zelinskaya explains.

“Those who will pass the verdict must remember that the hour of the end of the current executive branch is nearing, in our opinion, the criminal one. This sentence will be a sentence and to themselves. On how much the sentence will correspond to the letter of the law and the essence of law, the fate of those who literally invented this case and“ dragged ”it to the court,” the activists wrote.

In general, half of the court sessions went without listeners, says the lawyer of the ex-leader of Bars Alexander Orshulevich, Mikhail Uvarov .

Monarchists behind bars

Barc participants were detained at the peak of the fight against "Germanization" . In 2017, journalists of the state television channel actively “fought” in their stories with all German, and the “Bars” in the image of propagandists appeared almost fascists.

Meanwhile, Barc members have repeatedly stated that they are just against fascism and extremism. In Kaliningrad, they held exclusively peaceful actions - against corruption, in support of political prisoners, organized "Russian marches" . All participants of BARS - parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, they called themselves Russian nationalists, but advocated the return of Kaliningrad the historical name Koenigsberg and the restoration of the German royal castle in the city center, which was demolished in the Soviet years. The organization did not have a large number of followers in the region.

In May 2017, Alexander Orshulevich was detained, who at that time headed Bars, as well as his confessor, elderly priest Father Nikolai (Alexander Mamaev) and activist Igor Ivanov. During the search, they found stencils and leaflets with anti -Putin slogans. Activists said that all this was thrown to them. During the trial, the examination did not find their prints on these stencils and leaflets.

The group, as written in the charges, was going to capture the Kaliningrad region to transfer it to the European Union

At first, activists were accused of creating an extremist organization and participation in it. But soon the Kaliningradets Nikolai Sentsov was detained. According to the former lawyer, Bars Maria Bonzler , Sentsov was not at all related to the monarchists, but he was interested in history and collected weapons. After his detention, the charges against the “Bars” were re -qualified from an extremist article on terrorism.

- The acquaintance of Sentsov, which was not involved in Barss with the organization’s Bars, was enough to fasten him to this group, throw him a couple of grenades and cartridges. And now this group, as it is written in the charges, was going to capture the Kaliningrad region to transfer it to the European Union by conducting terrorist acts, ”says Bonzler.

- When Sentsov was detained, during a search they found grenades and cartridges and considered that he was a member of Bars. And they began to invent circumstances, his role for the new person involved, that it was a “hidden wing”, the purpose of which is to provide weapons for the revolution. The revolution is with seven cartridges and one grenade, ”says Mikhail Uvarov, lawyer Orshulevich.

Then Alexander Orshulevich was accused of organizing a terrorist community, the rest of the participation in this community. Strikeball training of the accused in the FSB considered the "testing of the seizure of power."

However, it was not possible to prove "terrorism": on April 1, 2020, the court at the request of the prosecutor's office returned an extremist article to the defendants. The accusation requested real terms for them: Orshulevich punishment in the form of 10 years in a colony, Alexander Mamaev and Igor Ivanov - seven years of the colony. Nikolai Sentsov was requested six years of colony-settlement.

False -seekers under pseudonymers

According to Uvarov, the mitigation of the article in relation to the "Bars" may be associated with the testimony of those secret witnesses who were charged. The defense managed to prove to the court that the testimonies of some of them have nothing to do with reality. Five people were classified, they testified under pseudonyms. But some of them the defendants recognized by the manner of conversation.

-For example, they recognized the provocateur, who was introduced into the Bars, went to rallies and promotions with them and provoked some actions, all this was recorded on the recorder, video. And Orshulevich then reacted sharply, besieged these provocations, ”said the lawyer.

Another witness, under the pseudonym, Rurikovich said that he allegedly heard the prisoners, while in a pre -trial detention center, talked among themselves from single cameras - they spoke about the goals of Bars and planned "the restoration of the monarchy and the overthrow of power," says Uvarov.

-Judging by his testimony, they were talking through some kind of ventilation mines. It sounds funny, but the witnesses gave such evidence publicly, with the listeners, ”the lawyer says.

Imagine - a stream of consciousness: "terrorism, extremism, wanted to overthrow power"

According to Uvarov, completely outsiders who, in principle, were not related to Bars, also acted as secret witnesses at the trial.

- These are false witnesses, fake people. The prosecution party simply gave information to them, they apparently read something, got acquainted with the case and issued negative information regarding the defendants, without specific circumstances. Imagine - a stream of consciousness: "terrorism, extremism, wanted to overthrow power." But they could not call either time or date, ”says Uvarov. - I think it was possible to show that these are false testimonies, so there was a fracture.

One of the "classified" stated that Sentsov is a member of Bars and has some "hidden caches and caches with weapons", says activist Oleg Savvin . He is well acquainted with the accused, together with them he participated in protests in the city. At the process, he witnessed from the side of protection.

- The investigation with a voluntaristic way attributed Sentsov to Bars, tied him to the case - so the legend of the "terrorist community" was built, on which the charge was based. But the party to the prosecution after hearing all the witnesses had no choice but to change the qualifications in order to at least somehow save their position, ”Savvin believes.

In his opinion, the evidence base of the charges was destroyed, inter alia, these "specials".

“In the case of Bars, witnesses of the accusations with their testimonies“ drowned ”the already insolvent accusation,” says Savvin. - Judge Kudashkin experienced obvious irritation from the fact that he was slipped in this case in this form.

"Comparable to torture"

All two and a half years "Bars" spent in single chambers of a pre -trial detention center. In conclusion, Orshulevich has become more frequent attacks of epilepsy, Sentsov suffered a stroke. In the fall, the suspects were deprived of dates. Mamaev was transferred from a single to particularly dangerous criminals, Orshulevich was sent to a non -residential, unheated camera. Then the lawyer of Barsovtsev Dmitry Dinze compared the conditions for the detention of prisoners with torture. The human rights organization "Memorial" recognized BARS members by political prisoners.

The defendants did not admit their guilt. Alexander Orshulevich, in his arguments, emphasized the court that he did not adhere to fascist views. There are no signs of the ideology of fascism in his public speeches on behalf of Bars, which is confirmed by examinations.

We did not hear the good arguments of the malicious of the defendants

- We are counting on justice and hope for the liberation of BARS members. I am convinced that this business and persecution as a whole is another example of how civilian and participants in peaceful shares decided to abandon a repressive skating rink in the style of the 30s of the last century. But they did everything so clumsy that they crashed not only from the point of view of law and evidence, but also from the point of view of common sense, ”says Savvin.

According to the lawyer Orshulevich, the defense did not hope for an excuse, but expected that there would be less - from five to seven years in prison.

- We have not yet seen the text of the sentence. But both the defenders and Orshulevich are going to appeal the verdict up to the Supreme Court, ”lawyer Mikhail Uvarov told North. Reali.