This is not a theater

I'm talking about the symbolism, which is generally saturated with our present. And Alexei Gorinov - of course, a symbol of this time

“We now meet only in cemeteries or in court. And on the bridge. " The volunteers of the Nemtsov Most were my comrades among the audience on the consideration of the appeal in the case of Alexei Gorinov. The former municipal deputy was judged for the justification of terrorism. And in 2022, Gorinov became the very first to receive a term under an article on fakes. Just noticing at a meeting of the municipal body that it was not the time to discuss the competition of children's drawing ... For the seven years of prison, this was enough. As it turned out, it is enough to give three more years for the justification of terrorism, and not bringing a single specific quote in this new business with an excuse for terrorism. Not a single one!

"The whole world is the theater."

When you go to these meetings, you cannot get rid of the feeling that you are present at some strange production. That all that you see at the same time is real and implausible.

They tried Gorinov in the village of Vlasikha. This is a suburbs of the settlement. Sunny. Because there is a military unit. The court is also a military man. The process is open, but physically it is impossible to get to the meeting. Because ... the village is regime, military unit. But for the public, the checkpoint is kindly equipped with a capital premises with an official sign. And this service legitimizes the closeness of open processes.

However, Gorinov himself was not in Vlasikha. He was from a video from the Vladimir colony. The screen is ironically written: Vladimir City. Sizo-1, Room 1. Previously, broadcasts went in YouTube, but now it would be too mocking. Therefore - a video in the native VK. And so that the cup of symbolism is overflowing completely, here you have a convicted person. Which, according to the video from Vladimir City, from his Room 1, is not heard at all. I envy colleagues who, after the meeting, were able to publish some kind of transcript of Gorinov’s speech. Apparently, you need to have an alternative hearing. It was really impossible to make a speech there - even lawyers first demanded to postpone the process. But when the outcome of the case is clear to everyone without exception in advance, is it so important whether at least something from the courtroom is heard, because the words do not really affect anything.

And in this special hall there was a bailiff - very polite and warning. The regulars of the courts confidently told me that the guy enters the top 3 among the bailiffs in humanity.

And there was a judge of Kozhevnikov, whose face we could not see “for security reasons”, but whose voice was very similar to the voices of the classic domestic artists of the Theater of the Theater of the sixties and seventies. And when Kozhevnikov began to read out an appeal ... He did not read it like a sexton (so habitually slurred something under the nose of our judges). He read with expression, with stresses and accents. Emphasizing how the procedural and legislative norms were violated, how there was no evidence in the case, but full of gross violations. He read, entering the image, and honestly, I thought that the presiding judge at the end simply would let Gorinov go home without any debate. Perhaps I just want to see good in every person, see a person, and not just the function of the system.

The second time I thought about this when the judge deprived Gorinov’s word. Of course, it is necessary to know Alexei at least a little. He is a stubborn person, stubborn as much as possible. To make him turn off the path is unrealistic. In the last word, he wanted to talk about what he wanted, without going into the details of the case (as it should be according to the procedure), which are already obvious to everyone. According to the scraps of phrases, it was clear that Gorinov did not choose words and expressions, and at some point the judge said, they say, you, Alexei Alexandrovich, what kind of good one, say another article for yourself, so I deprive you of a word. Savior, so to speak ...

Whether the judge of Kozhevnikov worked with a fig in my pocket, I cannot say. But he certainly could not understand what was happening. Like all those present.

Including the prosecutor, who was brief, spoke with tongue twisters, but corrected himself when he made a mistake: "Convicted Gorinov ... OS is the Wives of Gorin." OS is the expected one, the case was checked - in court you need to speak correctly!

The verdict was left unchanged. And the brilliant lawyer work, when the madness of the case was literally laid out by Alexei’s defenders on the molecules, could not initially change anything. Alas. But this does not mean that there is no need to fight, do work through the sleeves and abandon your beliefs. The prosecutor expressed his attitude with a clear desire to speak less and quickly. And the judge is the unique intonations with which he read and conducted a meeting. But we did not think seriously that he would suddenly get up, remove the mantle, put the certificate on the table and say: it went to hell ...

I'm talking about the symbolism, which is generally saturated with our present. And Alexei Gorinov - of course, is a symbol of this time. And his hero. The hero is involuntarily. The hero is not collected. He just lived honestly all his life and said what he thinks, and acted as he considered correct. His wife Alla once told me a story from the late Soviet times. He was even a local deputy then. He and Alla just got married recently. And in the area they conducted some kind of lottery. The time was so-so in terms of prosperity, and they played everything in a row-some teapots, irons, etc. And in this lottery, one of Gorinov’s relatives honestly won something like such a teapot. So Alexei ran in horror, took this prize and carried it - otherwise that people will think! The deputy’s relatives gives his own winnings! “Then I understood exactly who I married,” Alla recalled.

And if we wanted to live in a normal country, we would first build just normal municipal management. Realizing that the country is not the Kremlin and the president, but first our house, courtyard, district. Decent local deputies who help to build life where we, in fact, live, is the basis. Such as Gorinov is the foundation of power. Ideally.

And in fact, such as Gorinov, they receive carousel criminal cases and entering the list of terrorists and extremists, where Alexei was introduced in March this year. Equaling with thugs that burned Crocus.

The tongue does not turn to call Alexei Gorinov a "little man." In his own way he is just a grandiose! But before all this happened to him, only his voters, colleagues and friends knew Alexei Alexandrovich. A simple deputy of the lower level, at a trivial meeting, said ordinary words for a normal person. But time has ceased to be ordinary by that time. And from Gorinov made an indicative example to everyone in edification. Explanatory in the sense that under the article on Fakes immediately put a representative of some kind of, but the authorities, making it clear that there would be no restrictions. And they planted not some kind of opposition star, but a man unknown. Having made it clear that the repressions concern everyone! Not only those who are in sight, but those who are simply disagreeable and have dared to talk about it.

And now we are going to the permissible regime village and see on the screen, but we almost never hear a person in the prisoner robe and think that we are becoming part of some kind of phantasmagoric performance. But this is not a theater - this is a life that we live right now.