"The second Nuremberg is inevitable." Letter of Maria Ponomarenko from the pre -trial detention center

In April this year, Barnaul journalist Maria Ponomarenko was detained in St. Petersburg. She became the accused in the case of "fakes" about the Russian army. The investigation believes that she published posts about the death of people in the drama theater in Mariupol in the telegram channel, which was completely destroyed after Russian bombing. Maria, the mother of two minor children, was arrested for two months, she faces up to 10 years in prison. The correspondent of the North. Realiy wrote to Mary in a pre -trial detention center and asked what she was thinking about her criminal case, in which she now lives, how she experiences what happened to her and what she sees the background of the persecution.

- You are charged with posts about the situation in Ukraine. What did you think when you learned about the start of the war in Ukraine?

- Ukraine is pain. The pain of the soul, heart, mind. When the war began, I felt deep despair from the inability to stop this fratricidal madness. I have the right to call war war. If she had not been, then I would not be arrested in terms of the second of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. And in the first weeks, and now I have devastating emotions, guilt. But everything that I could do. She was not silent, did not support. Silence in modern Russia is equivalent to complicity in a crime. Events in Ukraine, unfortunately, were most accepted with a bang. And the mouth is plugged in a repressive machine. But even in such conditions, under the threat of a term of five to ten years, there are bold people who refuse to take the burden of complicity in the murders of the civilian population of Ukraine. We are fighting, even if we are not enough. Much depends on free Russians. Five percent of brave and decisive enough - and the changes will come. I intuitively feel perturbation in the highest echelons of the authorities, which will bring down the already staggering regime. The main thing: I was, is and will be against the fratricidal war in Ukraine. We live in the 21st century, but are likened to the barbarians, primitive people who do not own information technologies, diplomacy, and people who decide everything by force. Nuremberg-2 is inevitable!

- Tell me, how did the detention go? How did the security forces behave?

- I was detained when I left the house to the street, on the way to work. At 12:40 it was. Three security officials were detained - two from the Altai Territory, one local - opera for especially important matters. They behaved quite culturally, the handcuffs did not wear, they talked about the absurdity of the case and the impossibility of applying an article without the introduction of martial law. I anticipated the arrest - they often threatened them. Plus, I understood which country I live in.

- When you were delivered for interrogation, what did the investigator tell you?

- The investigator at the interrogation flaunted the position - he is from the UK. He said - the judges are pocket, you will go by the stage. More precisely, whispered. After a long conversation by telephone, he re -qualified part of the first one to the second one ( at first with respect to Maria Ponomarenko, the case was opened under Part 1 of Article 207.3, it threatens to three years in prison, the second - up to 10 years, since it includes the motive of political hatred. - SD ). He refused to call, as usual, violated my rights. They are used to it.

- You were sent to the IVS. How was it?

- In the IVS, I washed several cameras in which I was. The conditions are not sugar, but it is much easier for me than Sasha Skochilenko with her illness. The attitude of employees corresponds to the professional sphere, mainly quite human. Worst of all during escort. After the second trial, she spent almost 16 hours in a terribly cold glass. Only late at night they returned to the IVS. Imagine, after the cold and tightness of a glass, I was happy about the camera!

Who is Sasha Skochilenko

Sasha Skochilenko is a St. Petersburg artist, musician and author of comics about depression. She is the first accused in the case of "fakes" about the army in St. Petersburg. The accusation believes that she has pasted anti -war price tags in the store. They were seen by an elderly visitor to the store and reported to the police. Skochilenko was arrested for two months, she is in the same pre -trial detention center as Ponomarenko. Skochilenko has a celiac disease. This is a disease in which gluten cannot be consumed, it can lead to cancer. When Sasha got into a pre -trial detention center, the administration first refused her in a special nutrition, and the transfer of her loved ones only partially reached. Skochilenko did not go for a while. Now the conditions of its content have improved - it has been transferred to a double chamber and give special -development.

- Then you were arrested. How did you feel at the meeting as you stop?

- The court, as always (I had a lot of administratives), showed a complete neglect of the laws, to the Constitution. The court forgot about the honor of the mantle and how a lady with low social responsibility dancing under the pipe of the investigator from the UK. The position of the court was similar to the position of the investigation - the honor and conscience are nothing, the order of the authorities, even the criminal, was implemented by 100 percent.

- At the trial, the investigator said that they interrogated one of your daughters and that she allegedly testified to you. What do you know about this?

- Yes, the policemen interrogated the eldest daughter. She is 16 years old, sports and school are all that she sees now, she is a child. The policemen selected her personal money, a phone, a laptop in which Katyusha did annual work. She could not give any evidence against me if she was not threatened. The search was held without guardianship and legal representatives. I miss the children madly.

- Now you are in a pre -trial detention center. Tell us about your life.

- There are 18 people in the cell. Its area is approximately 35–40 meters. Although at first it seemed 25 meters. The team is decent, it does not particularly differ from the usual women's office. In the cell there are rules and implicitly executed rules. For example, from 6:00 to 22:00, quarantine - this is for brand new, who have served less than six months in a particular chamber - such cannot lie down. We walk, sit. Basically, of course, we are sitting, nowhere to go. The bed is covered in a strictly defined way. Washing - three things on one day you highlighted. Underwear and socks can be washed every day. Many chamber chips relate to cleaning, but they are unlikely to be interesting to you. In general, you can live, especially when you get it essential items: a bucket, rag, soap, boiler, containers for boiling and food.

The local currency is women's cigarettes, even fresh bedding can be obtained for them. I am so far without everything, but the girls help out. They even gave pajamas and a T -shirt, shared a new glass, sometimes they allow to pour sugar into tea. There are few pluses, but they are - an internal climate in the cell. Girls support each other. Someone has been sitting for a long time, they do not remain hungry, they also have order with household items. The quarantine with this is more difficult. The food in the pre -trial detention center is very scarce. Gray pasta, cooked to the state of Clayster, dairy soup (what is there instead of milk?) With incomprehensible scraps, a slurry of beets, grated on a fine grater, is also soup. Brier - a slurry with pearl barley, a drop of carrots and salted tomatoes. The pickle is the most delicious thing that is given here for lunch. Garnish is a piece of boiled wrapped Putassa. In the evenings, they often give boiled potatoes with slurry. Here are recipes for all occasions. They don’t give sugar, I am generally silent about fruits and vegetables.

Is it better to eat in a pre -trial detention center

Maria Ponomarenko wrote this letter on May 5. The next day, representatives of the Public Supervisory Commission came to her (monitor compliance with the rights of prisoners) and the head of the colony with his deputy. She told them about meager nutrition and that the camera is overpopulated. After that, on May 7 and 8, meat appeared in the dinner, and the pasta "eliminated mucus". The meat was in the diet of prisoners before May 10, and then disappeared again. Maria's camera was not resettled.

-Do you feel some pressure from the administration of the pre-trial detention center?

- I almost do not see the administration of the pre -trial detention center, and the overseers are different. Everything is like in the wild. There are people and there are Lyadi.

- How is your physical and emotional state?

- The physical condition is in order. As for the emotional ... Here it cannot be constant. However, I am a fighter, I will withstand the trials sent by fate, provoked by patience, stupidity and passivity of the people. My classes are monotonous here: charging, hygiene, reading, communication, poems I write.

- What do you think when you wake up?

- I think mainly about what actions I will take at large. I think about changes. They are inevitable. I have one goal - to pass everything and become stronger.

Waiting for letters. Yesterday [May 5], for the first time they brought, I write the answers to everyone. Write the letters by political prisoners, they are like a sip of fresh air for us, like a thread that connects with the will. The words of support are inspired, give strength, act as an incentive for self -development in such constrained circumstances.

The support of people reached me through the meter walls of the IVS and reaches the same walls of the pre -trial detention center. People brought programs every day. Please tell them huge words of gratitude. All normal people of Russia and abroad reacted to injustice. You can’t plant for the truth.

- And what actions would you take at large?

- This will be possible only when changing the regime. The first is to reach the authorities and help in reforming or nursing or nursing houses. I would suggest using European experience, especially a successful experiment with the union.

I would like to introduce at the state level a system of social adaptation of freed prisoners, devoid of housing and relatives. While I was taken to the convoy, I talked with other prisoners. Half of them went to the double [repeatedly committed crimes] according to articles on the theft and drugs for only one reason - it is impossible to adapt to life at large. The criminal record deprived their employment, and the lack of housing exacerbated the problem.

-Did you say that a criminal case could appear because of your journalistic activity in Barnaul? Why do you think so? Who exactly could take revenge on you?

- Yes, journalistic activity and active civil position became the catalysts of persecution. In Altai, almost no one was engaged in the exposure of the criminal ties of local "elite". They were not even criticized. I actively dealt with the orphan question [about the allocation of housing to orphans] in 2020. SK opened a criminal case. The scale of the theft - supposedly uninitiated funds - 96 percent of the money allocated by the state for housing. After that, the case went from the authorities, bailiffs, criminals.

I published a photo of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Altai Territory Andrei Podolyan with bandits. She wrote statements for violation of the mask regime by Governor Viktor Tomenko and the mayor of Barnaul Vyacheslav Frank. I lit up the problems of large families - they did not cut the laid ground. Light protests.

- Are you scared now? Do you regret anything?

-I'm afraid only one thing-that the regime will not perish in the next two to three years. I regret this: what was necessary and actively acting, while I was at large.

- Do you have the hope that you will receive a mild punishment?

- There is no hope for a mild punishment. Absolutely. A criminal case is an indicative flogging, proof of agony and weakness of the system of the system. The judge and investigator for me of the same field of the berry are people without honor and dignity, devoid of reason. They broadcast purely personal, skin interests.

How many cases about "fakes" about the army

A new article on Fakes - 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - appeared in early March 2022, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The State Duma accepted him at once in three readings, the Federation Council unanimously approved, and then it was signed by President Vladimir Putin. All this happened on March 4, in one day. Punishment on it is fines and real imprisonment. The minimum period is up to three years in prison, the maximum is up to 15 years.

The exact number of criminal cases that were instituted under this article is unknown. On May 3, the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, reported that there were 35 such cases. OVD-Info's human rights project calculated that the affairs of Fakes at least 44. As the North. Real, the senior partner of the Settlement Freedom project, lawyer Stanislav Seleznev , investigators ceased to initiate cases under Part 1, the mildest part of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In St. Petersburg, criminal cases of "fakes" were instituted on Sasha Skochilenko, Maria Ponomarenko, activists Olga Smirnov and Boris Romanova , a resident of the city of Victoria Petrov .

- What is what to live in Russia for you?

- I love Russia, but I despise a system that holds on cowardly, cowardly, miserable, vengeful and greedy screws. It’s hard to live here. The stench of the camera is not felt behind its walls, but it spreads everywhere. "General cleaning" is necessary. But in spite of everything, we have enough worthy, honest, educated people. The time will come - let's put things in order.

“ Have you ever wanted to leave?”

- I thought about emigration, but my homeland is here.

-If you could go back and do something else, what would you do?

- If I returned back, I would fight more intensively.

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