The story of a transgender activist who spent 14 days in a men's special detention center

On July 14, a bill on amendments to the family code was submitted to the State Duma. in the passport of transgender people is likely to be disrupted It follows from this that the existing procedure for changing the gender marker . It will simply be impossible to change your passport, and you will be prohibited from changing your birth certificate.

This concerns me personally - I am a transgender girl. Now I haven’t changed my documents yet [and according to my passport I’m a man], but this also applies to people who have changed their documents, everything will be changed back for them

At the protest I had a poster with me: “I want not to be afraid to show my passport.” Every day I have many situations at work, all sorts of awkward, unsafe ones, related to the fact that I have to show my passport. Well, it’s always difficult to receive a package at the post office, because they don’t believe that it’s your passport. And I often receive packages like “for my brother.”

By two o'clock a number of people approached the State Duma who wanted to picket. One girl unfurled a poster and all the people who were nearby, including journalists, were grabbed by police officers and taken into a pre-arranged paddy wagon. I just stood there with a folded poster. They didn’t let me unfold the poster itself.

We, 15 people, were taken to the Tverskoy district police station. The police did not behave very well. They took us one by one—as I understood, not all of them, just some of the people—to the office of the head of the police department. Specifically, they searched me without witnesses or protocol: my bag and package, pockets. They threatened to find drugs on me, insulted me, and hit me in the neck. A lawyer was not allowed into our department.

***

The trial took place only on July 20. I was illegally detained for more than two days. We filed a petition in court that I was being illegally detained. The judge said that I am free and can go wherever I want - I am not under arrest. My lawyer stayed to get acquainted with the case materials, and I went where I wanted.

In the corridor on both sides of the court doors stood four employees of the second operational regiment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - about eight people. They didn't let me in. I managed to walk past them and continue running towards the exit along the stairs. They caught up with me, threw me to the floor and dragged me to the courtroom on the third floor. They hit me in the nose and left bruises on my arms that hurt for another week. At some point, the bailiffs approached them and said that I was free, so that they would let me go. But the second operational regiment continued to hold me. One person’s jacket was torn, someone’s phone was dented because they wanted to check [what was being filmed]. Together with the employees of the second operational regiment there was also the head of the Tver Department of Internal Affairs. At the same time, the second operational regiment did not participate in the trial in any way, despite the fact that we filed a petition for their interrogation.

Then the chief bailiff came up and said, take her to the courtroom. They forcibly brought me into the courtroom and sat me on a chair. In fact, I remained under arrest. The judge was in the conference room all this time; he did not see all this.

I was sentenced to 14 days. The judge believes the police who wrote in the protocols that I participated in the mass action. That we had a lot of posters, that we were shouting something there, [although this is not true]. The judge believes them. He says that everything was drawn up according to the rules and the law and there is no reason not to believe the protocols.

***

I was taken to the first men's special detention center to serve my sentence. There I served the entire assigned term alone in a four-bed cell. This is what the head of the special detention center decided. When I was brought in, many, many people constantly called him, they asked that I be placed in solitary confinement. He just hung up and the next call came straight away. Apparently, he realized that I had great support and decided to listen.

In the special detention center they did not threaten me, they behaved well and even called me by my name, Polina, and in a female gender marker - with female endings. Except for some employees who applied using their passports. But most [behaved] normally. True, they showed an active interest in my physiology, as usual, and in my sex life - in such things. This always happens, it’s very interesting to them.

At the police department and in the special detention center there were problems with who was supposed to inspect me. They say that according to the law, men must search me, but men are embarrassed to do this. Therefore, either women or men. They cannot always decide - there is such a hitch every time.

I'm on hormone therapy. But since I did not pass the commission for medical permission to take hormones, because it is expensive, I do not have medical documents allowing me to take hormones. Therefore, in theory, in such places I should not be allowed to take it, because I cannot document this. Therefore, what happens next depends on the doctor in the special detention center.

In general, I am on injections - she did not allow me to take them, but she allowed me to replace them with tablets. This is a so-so option, because when you change something, you need to do tests. She did not allow me to give injections, but I did not interrupt hormone therapy. This is a bad option, but it is at least some option.