Mnews.world is publishing an open letter by Pskov-based journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva, who is being charged with public justifying of terrorism (part 2 of the article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) for sayingthat suppression of a protest inevitably leads to its radicalization.
I (we?) am Svetlana Prokopyeva. I’m a journalist and I can go to prison for seven years for “justifying terrorism”.
Nearly a year ago an explosion thundered in Arkhangelsk. A sudden, overwhelming explosion: a 17-year-old Mikhail Zhlobitksiy blew himself up at FSB’s Arkhangelsk office. A few moments before the explosion he left a suicide note in Telegram. He wrote that he would blow himself up because “FSB is *** [out of line], they frame up cases and torture people”.
I made this Arkhangelsk explosion the topic of my author’s column on the radio station Echo of Moscow in Pskov. “Acting voluntarily”, I wrote a text titled “Repression for the state”. The program was broadcast on November 7 and the transcript was later published on Pskov News Feed website.
Almost a month later, Pskov News Feed and Echo of Moscow received Roskomnadzor warnings: our quasi-censor spotted the “signs of justifying terrorism” in my text. In early December, the respective administrative offense reports were drawn up resulting in a 350-thousand-ruble fine awarded to the mass media outlets by the magistrate’s court. At the same time, Pskov Investigative Committee started checking me in regard to article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A possibility of a criminal case has come into view but we laughed at the thought of it, twisting finger at a temple. Where on earth could they see the justification of terrorism? Roskomnadzor hasn’t mentioned in any of their warnings a single phrase or word that would be treated as a “sign” of it, and could simply not do that as there weren’t any. As it turned out later, it doesn’t matter.
On February 6, I opened the door to find a dozen of armed men wearing helmets, who then used their shields to push me back against the wall in the outer room. That was how I found out that the criminal case against me was actually started.
The search is an odious and humiliating procedure. Some strangers go through your personal stuff, other strangers stare blankly at it. Old notes, cash register receipts, letters with foreign stamps – all of these suddenly raise suspicion and require explanation. Your most important and precious belongings – a laptop, a phone – become “pieces of evidence”. Your colleagues or family members can easily become “accomplices”.
That day I was robbed: they took away three laptops, two phones, a tape recorder, USB flash drives. Six months later they robbed me again by freezing my accounts. I was only a “suspect” when they put me on the list of active extremists and terrorists of Rosfinmonitoring. Now I can’t get a bank card in my name, open a deposit account or take out a mortgage. The state has erased me from normal economic life.
The only thing I had left was my freedom but then, on September 20, my procedural status changed. Today I’m officially accused of committing a crime on the article 205.2 of the Criminal Code: justification of terrorism using mass media. This means I’m facing a fine up to a million rubles or up to 7 years in prison.
I do not admit guilt and think of this criminal case as an act of revenge done by resentful enforcers. In my text, I put the blame for Arkhangelsk explosion on them. I wrote that the state’s repressions provoked a backlash. That violent law enforcement strategy makes people violent. That when blocked by the law, the energy of protests finds vent in such publicly dangerous ways.
If you are not afraid, post this quote:
“Strong state, Strong president, strong governor. A country, where the power belongs to the enforcers.”
Arkhangelsk bomber belonged to the generation that grew up in this environment. They know that they can’t go to rallies or they will be cleared away, beaten and pursued in court. They know that one-man protests are being punished. They can see that it’s only safe to be a member of a certain set of parties, and there’s a certain set of opinions that can be expressed without fear. This generation learned from real-life cases that court is not a place to seek justice: the judge will award a judgment to support whatever the major decides is right.
Years and years of restricting the political and civil freedoms have turned Russia into a not simply unfree, but a repressive state. A state that is dangerous and daunting to deal with.”
I still hold the same opinion. Moreover, I believe that this criminal case is another proof of my points. “Punishment. Proving guilt and putting on trial is their only goal. A tiny formal peg is enough to get a man caught between the wheels of the justice system.”
I didn’t justify terrorism. I analyzed what caused the act of terrorism. I tried to understand why a young man with a whole life ahead of him went in for a suicide crime. I might have been mistaken about his motives – and I’d be happy if I were! – but nobody has proved me wrong. Accusation instead of discussion is a quite primitive and rough position. It is a punch to the face in reply to a verbal warning.
It is a punch to the face of every journalist in our country.
You can never know the exact words or word order which may offend a high-powered enforcer. They called voicing opinions a crime. They turn a person who is simply doing her job into a criminal.
In the same way, a criminal case can be fabricated from any more or less straight-from-the-shoulder text. It only takes to find the “experts” to sign an expert assessment that the investigator needs. Knowing all this, will you dare cover a burning topic? Will you ask the questions that can most likely drive the government mad? Will you go in for bringing a crime home to someone wearing a police uniform?
My criminal case is the murder of the freedom of speech. Seeing how things turned out for me, dozens and hundreds of other journalists will not have the courage to tell the truth before it’s too late.