"I have to protect my mother"

Interview with Peter Goncharov. His mother, journalist Oksana Goncharov, was sentenced to seven years in colony for self -defense: she killed her husband, who beat her for more than 15 years

On August 19, the Elektrostal City Court of the Moscow Region sentenced the former journalist of RBC Oksana Goncharov to seven years in prison. She was found guilty of the murder of her wife Alexei Samusev: according to investigators, Goncharova specially hit him with scissors , Oksana herself claims to be defended during a quarrel. According to Goncharova and her children, Samusev beat and poisoned her for many years. After the initiation of the case of the murder, Goncharov was deprived of parental rights, and they and Samusev of two children were transferred to his brother. The publication “Bank” talked with Peter Goncharov, the son of Oksana from her first marriage, and found out how the family reacted to the verdict and what they were going to do next. "Medusa" publishes this text entirely.

- Have you talked with Oksana after the sentence? How does she feel? How is she doing?

- I have not yet been able to talk with my mother, because she is now in a transit pre -trial detention center in New Grishino in the Moscow region. She is transported there when the courts go. But the other day I am going to take the judge’s permission to date. A lot of questions and news have accumulated.

- How did you react to the verdict?

- The lawyer immediately told me that [will be given] in the area of ​​six years. I knew that in any case it would be a real term, and did not even hope that a miracle would happen and it would be justified. As a result, the judge for some reason decided to give seven years. We still do not understand what exactly affected this.

- Do your brothers and the rest of the family know about the verdict?

- I doubt that the brothers know about the sentence. It seems to me that the guardian in every possible way limits them from any information about their mother. You know, we have no family as such. All relatives have long been in the next world, roughly speaking. Mama remained alive cousin and her niece, they live in the Volgograd region, where mom and I were born. I still have a cousin, I am and two more brothers, Matvey and Arseny, who are now under guardianship. Relatives (except for younger brothers) always call me, I tell all the news. They are interested, worried.

- Please tell us how this court went?

- I can’t tell you about each meeting in detail, because I work. There were quite a few of them - starting in April, there are definitely more than fifteen. They usually lasted from one hour to three, the longest was when the jury conferred before they made their decision - they [in the advisory room] sat almost until one in the morning.

Mom asked me not to be present there. She says that for me this is an extra hassle. I better save strength for something important and necessary. For example, I’ll talk with journalists, bring products in a pre -trial detention center, go to her on a date. She is so calmer.

I was in court only when I testified as an indirect witness . Then I came and said that I know. Naturally, both the investigator and the lawyer of the victims ( the families of the deceased Alexei Samusev, - approx. "Coast" ) crushed, tried to force me to say excess, so that this poorly affected the position of my mother. I held on as best I could, and when I pointed out the oddity of questions, the judge made me comments. But they were really idiotic.

- What were you asked about?

- These questions were not aimed at identifying the truth, they asked in order to aggravate the situation even more. I can’t recall their wording, but they asked exactly why his mother did not leave from him [Samuseva] why she endured it all. Like, "if he beat, then she allowed, if he drank, then she allowed." And it was necessary to take the children under the mouse and run.

So they love to reason like that and do not understand that it is very difficult. She wanted to [leave], she even searched for an apartment, but she had an elementary lack of money, because her mother had three children. And Samusev was also a violent person. Can you imagine in which atmosphere she lived? And knowing all this, they asked me such questions ... But it’s hard to talk about such things. I remember that such dryness was in my throat that I even asked for water. That is why my mother said that I did not go better. And for some reason I was interrogated without jury , I myself did not understand how it happened.

- And how did the accusation and family of Samusev justify the jury that Oksana killed him intentionally?

- Well, the mother of the deceased said that her son was good, but my mother ruined him. And there were no other arguments.

- In addition to a prison term of seven years, the court also ordered Oksana Goncharov to pay the parents of the deceased two million rubles - a million to everyone. How did the judge argue this?

- This is supposedly for moral damage: in any case, she would be obliged to pay because she was found guilty, but not in such an amount. Two million is a very large amount, if we proceed [from legal practice in similar matters]. This is something egregious . It seems to me that this is just for the sake of making a family that gave him money [for life] on a receipt. This is all just hypocrisy and pretense.

“Do you know who the jury was?”

- As far as I know, there were equally men and women. I don't know anything more about them. Five witnesses, including me, were interrogated without jury. This is strange, because they form their opinion not only on the basis of dry facts from the criminal case, but also from the testimony of eyewitnesses.

- In what conditions was Oksana all this time?

- As I already said, my mother was constantly carried to the courts [from a pre -trial detention center in New Grishino] in transit through Noginsk, because the meetings took place at the place of residence, in electric stal. This is hard for her. Imagine - drive 90 kilometers in Avtosak. This is not very, to put it mildly.

And in the pre -trial detention center, she is all right, no one offends. She even has a girlfriend in, let's say, unfortunately appeared. She tells me about everyday life how she cooks there. For example, so that she prepares a vinaigrette, I buy her already cooked vegetables in vacuum packaging, and she somehow cuts them without a knife. I think a person adapts to any conditions. This is our instinct. If a person wants to eat what he ate free, but in a prison cell, he will figure out how to do it.

Girlfriends constantly send her something, order sweets. I sometimes bring fresh products. True, it is far away-if you get by electric steels from electric stalis, it will take about seven hours [back and forth]. Can you imagine? It is very difficult, also with heavy bags. Not everyone can withstand this. Therefore, I usually rent a car for this.

- How did the relatives of Alexei Samusev behave during the process?

- They went to almost every meeting and behaved very badly. When I came as an indirect witness, they told me: “Petya, how are you not ashamed? Do you not remember how we drove you to our place, how did we give you gifts? ” This is all, of course, wonderful and cool, but what has it to do with it?

I have to defend my mother: come to court and give my testimony. They believe that I had to testify against her. But they also protect their son, who is no longer there. All the time they tried to provoke me for some muck, and during the discussions at the meetings there were also skirmishes. And outside the court we don’t communicate at all, we don’t even greet, although the mother’s mother lives in a neighboring apartment. I sometimes see her.

- After the mother’s detention in 2022, you said that you want to take the younger brothers to yourself. But the guardianship authorities transferred them to his brother Alexei Samusev, although before that he did not take anyone in their life. He took them to Anapa and forbade you to communicate with them. Do you now have the opportunity to see them? In what conditions do they live?

- I still do not communicate with them and do not have the opportunity to see since February 2022. In this sense, nothing has changed at all. We cannot do something here yet, because they are already under his care. Mom sent a request from the pre-trial detention center about how children answered her, but rather superficially: Matvey goes to school and signed up for some kind of sports section, Arseny makes progress in speech. And when I made the same requests, the guardianship authorities refused to me: "In connection with the Federal Law on Information Protection."

-Have you somehow tried to challenge the transfer of children under the care of Samusev’s brother?

- We filed a lawsuit on the procedure for communicating with Anapa City Court, but they say that my presence is needed. And I can go to Anapa quite problematic. I filed this lawsuit a year ago, and since then nothing is clear at all.

Once Mama’s colleague was in Anapa and stopped in this guardianship. They then answered her about me, saying why he would not come to us in any way, would not seem to us-we would talk with him, something would have come up with him to communicate with children. And for me it is difficult, I also have my own responsibilities and work, my life has not stopped. Such a crazy story. But we will continue to fight.

- Do you think they can give you the brothers under guardianship?

“I am sure that they will not give them to my guardianship.” Firstly, I have insufficient earnings, and secondly, I have an inferior family, I am not married. The guardianship authorities look at it. And yet I think that it is good that the children are under guardianship, and not in the orphanage - it is much worse, much worse, and you can’t do anything here. They would have had an injury for life.

- How did the children explain where Oksana is located? And how did they react?

- The middle one, Matvey, knows what was happening to his mother, he even testified that Alexei Samusev before everything happened, beat his mother. Arseny hardly knows about this, he was then four years old, now he is already older. I don’t know if they say something to them now and whether they know about the sentence. But, I think, they could tell them that my mother was bad. I will not be surprised, I understand perfectly what kind of people are.

On the other hand, it may be good that they are limited in information. In any case, they will grow and find out everything, they will have their own opinion. The most important thing is that their state of mind is calm now. Let them go to kindergarten, they do not get into school and do it all.

- In April 2023, Oksana was deprived of parental rights. How did she survive this?

- Of course, she was very difficult, she cried a lot. It was a blow for her. Imagine: the mother is deprived of her children, but she can’t do anything about it - nothing to compete for them, nothing, because she is in a pre -trial detention center. She is ready to fight for them when she comes out. This will probably be her main task after she will give away the term by law.

- Do colleagues from the media support Oksana, do they write letters to her? Some of them went to meetings?

-Yes, a lot of people write letters to her, including her colleagues from abroad and people whose business she wrote about. She was so worried, so afraid that her colleagues would understand her incorrectly, so she very carefully hid her story. Perhaps, if she had told about it before, they would help her. As a result, colleagues understood everything and help a lot in everything. Thank you for this for this. Some mother’s colleagues even lead a telegram channel [to her support] and conducted broadcasts from court hearings.

- What is your plan now, after the sentence?

- We will fight. Be sure to dispute the verdict in appeal and especially the amount of the cash payment, because it is just a monstrous amount. This is a lot for Samusev, who did not give anyone to life. In addition, she has already served part of the term, it turns out that in September it will be two years, and in terms of three. This is more than good. Then it will be possible to apply for parole or ask to transfer it to forced labor work, where she can work, receive money, live in the city. We will fight for Matvey and Arseny in order to be able to communicate with them, return to the family. And after the case, the mother again started talking about the law on domestic violence, I saw that the State Duma was already talking about the bill.

“Do you think they will accept him?”

- Honestly, I don't hope anything. We do not live at the best time, and it seems to me, therefore, [the adoption of the law on domestic violence] is so problematic. But humanly I want to believe in it. It is impossible for everything to be so bad.

"Shore"