Politics. Again.
So I've been on a free, educational excursion to Police Stations and Courts of Saint Petersburg courtesy of the Government of Russian Federation. Bench and breakfast included.
How it happened.
I - like a couple of thousands of other citizens of my city - went for a walk with my friend to the Nevsky Avenue (the central street of St.P.; you can google for images on "Gostinyy dvor, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia" if you'd like to see the place). We were just standing there, enjoying the view and taking pictures. No one was carrying any banners or crying out any slogans.
Police and the special forces were gathering all around us. When they were prepared enough they announced that our gathering was illegal because according to the law we didn't have a right to rally unless the event had been approved by the government beforehand. They politely asked us to get lost (they used the official terms) and began to grab random passers-by the moment they made the announcement. They encircled groups of people and then shoved them into buses parked nearby.
No one explained anything further though I asked many times what was I charged with and what right did they have to arrest me for just being in a public place at the same time as other people. After that the buses went on to random police stations as far away from the Nevsky as possible. My bus arrived to one station first, then they decided we wouldn't all fit there, so they delivered me and a group of others to another police station a district away.
Still they didn't explain what we had been charged with and what would happen next.
At the police station the officers of the special forces left us to the local policemen who had to deal with us further. The local policemen had all our papers ready for us. The papers said that we had screamed some stupid slogans and demanded a revolution and some other shit like that.
As I had found out then I had a right to an attorney. IF. If I had a document with me which said that I trust this person to defend my rights. Apparently our government is taking care of its people so that a person I don't trust couldn't defend my rights even if they really, really want to.
The officer who was working with our papers was very nice though. He said that he himself witnessed the violations taking place at the elections and that he would have been with us there if the law hadn't forbidden police officers to take part (or they would be fired and charged with some shit that would land them two years in jail right away). He said that if we could gather more than half of the city all in one go the police and the army would join us. Until then he couldn't do anything but help us out of this shit with as little losses as possible. Thanks to him and the other supportive policemen we still had our cell phones with us and could call anyone we wanted while they "weren't noticing" it (by the law they had to take the phones as soon as we had been delivered to the station). They took the phones only three or four hours later and we had already called almost everyone we knew, checked the interwebz for news, and played Angry Birds by then.
They could have released us until the trial but they had strict orders not to (and by law they have a right to detain any person for 48 hours without any charges anyway). So we had to spend the night there.
The cell was... unpleasant. Don't even let me start on this! I didn't enjoy trying to get some sleep while on a narrow bench in a small dirty room. Thank god they let us out to the bathroom when we had to use it.
The next day an armed convoy arrived to take us to the court. And the first trial had happened right away while we all were sitting in our buses in the court's parking lot. Yes, we didn't get to even be there when the actual trial - our fucking trial - was taking place. If it was your first time (my case) the judge would send your case to the local court nearest to your place of residence (I will get a notification soon when they want me there) without even looking at it. If it wasn't your first time though you'd get from 5 to 15 days of jail and they'd take you there right after the trial. Again - you wouldn't get to be on this trial. At all. They would decide without you.
So we were sitting in that fucking bus for all fucking day waiting for the judge's fucking decision.
My parents came to wave Hi. They (and other people - friends of others or just random guys) - were bringing us food and water and all kinds of things. It was almost fun.
So all in all I was arrested at 7.30 pm on Wednesday and released at something like 7-8 pm on Thursday. I'd missed a day at work and my coworkers had to take over my classes.
I came to work today and my colleagues were very surprised to see me. They thought I'd take a day off after all the excitement. I wasn't much of anything though so one of my colleagues ended up teaching my classes anyway. And I was just sitting there making occasional comments and answering questions about my recent trip. As I found out some of my students had been there, too, though they had managed to escape in time.
Tomorrow there will be official - approved - political rallies in Moscow and St.P. (and some other major cities) organized by the opposition. And this time it will be something REALLY BIG.
I have promised my parents I won't go by myself anymore. But as I've just found out this rally is supported by the political party I'm about to join so I'll talk to them tomorrow morning.
There's a chance that I'll go. If my father manages to get me into that political party before the event (he still has many friends there since his days as a politician and is going to join them again now) then I'll go 100%.
There's a chance that there will be provocations and all kind of ugly shit there. The army has already arrived and is ready for action.
So there's also a chance that my father will cuff me to a chair instead.
IDK what the hell is happening anymore.
I'm tired and I want it all to be over but I can't just sit at home being afraid.
IDK what will happen tomorrow.
So just in case... Guys!!! I love you!!!!
How it happened.
I - like a couple of thousands of other citizens of my city - went for a walk with my friend to the Nevsky Avenue (the central street of St.P.; you can google for images on "Gostinyy dvor, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia" if you'd like to see the place). We were just standing there, enjoying the view and taking pictures. No one was carrying any banners or crying out any slogans.
Police and the special forces were gathering all around us. When they were prepared enough they announced that our gathering was illegal because according to the law we didn't have a right to rally unless the event had been approved by the government beforehand. They politely asked us to get lost (they used the official terms) and began to grab random passers-by the moment they made the announcement. They encircled groups of people and then shoved them into buses parked nearby.
No one explained anything further though I asked many times what was I charged with and what right did they have to arrest me for just being in a public place at the same time as other people. After that the buses went on to random police stations as far away from the Nevsky as possible. My bus arrived to one station first, then they decided we wouldn't all fit there, so they delivered me and a group of others to another police station a district away.
Still they didn't explain what we had been charged with and what would happen next.
At the police station the officers of the special forces left us to the local policemen who had to deal with us further. The local policemen had all our papers ready for us. The papers said that we had screamed some stupid slogans and demanded a revolution and some other shit like that.
As I had found out then I had a right to an attorney. IF. If I had a document with me which said that I trust this person to defend my rights. Apparently our government is taking care of its people so that a person I don't trust couldn't defend my rights even if they really, really want to.
The officer who was working with our papers was very nice though. He said that he himself witnessed the violations taking place at the elections and that he would have been with us there if the law hadn't forbidden police officers to take part (or they would be fired and charged with some shit that would land them two years in jail right away). He said that if we could gather more than half of the city all in one go the police and the army would join us. Until then he couldn't do anything but help us out of this shit with as little losses as possible. Thanks to him and the other supportive policemen we still had our cell phones with us and could call anyone we wanted while they "weren't noticing" it (by the law they had to take the phones as soon as we had been delivered to the station). They took the phones only three or four hours later and we had already called almost everyone we knew, checked the interwebz for news, and played Angry Birds by then.
They could have released us until the trial but they had strict orders not to (and by law they have a right to detain any person for 48 hours without any charges anyway). So we had to spend the night there.
The cell was... unpleasant. Don't even let me start on this! I didn't enjoy trying to get some sleep while on a narrow bench in a small dirty room. Thank god they let us out to the bathroom when we had to use it.
The next day an armed convoy arrived to take us to the court. And the first trial had happened right away while we all were sitting in our buses in the court's parking lot. Yes, we didn't get to even be there when the actual trial - our fucking trial - was taking place. If it was your first time (my case) the judge would send your case to the local court nearest to your place of residence (I will get a notification soon when they want me there) without even looking at it. If it wasn't your first time though you'd get from 5 to 15 days of jail and they'd take you there right after the trial. Again - you wouldn't get to be on this trial. At all. They would decide without you.
So we were sitting in that fucking bus for all fucking day waiting for the judge's fucking decision.
My parents came to wave Hi. They (and other people - friends of others or just random guys) - were bringing us food and water and all kinds of things. It was almost fun.
So all in all I was arrested at 7.30 pm on Wednesday and released at something like 7-8 pm on Thursday. I'd missed a day at work and my coworkers had to take over my classes.
I came to work today and my colleagues were very surprised to see me. They thought I'd take a day off after all the excitement. I wasn't much of anything though so one of my colleagues ended up teaching my classes anyway. And I was just sitting there making occasional comments and answering questions about my recent trip. As I found out some of my students had been there, too, though they had managed to escape in time.
Tomorrow there will be official - approved - political rallies in Moscow and St.P. (and some other major cities) organized by the opposition. And this time it will be something REALLY BIG.
I have promised my parents I won't go by myself anymore. But as I've just found out this rally is supported by the political party I'm about to join so I'll talk to them tomorrow morning.
There's a chance that I'll go. If my father manages to get me into that political party before the event (he still has many friends there since his days as a politician and is going to join them again now) then I'll go 100%.
There's a chance that there will be provocations and all kind of ugly shit there. The army has already arrived and is ready for action.
So there's also a chance that my father will cuff me to a chair instead.
IDK what the hell is happening anymore.
I'm tired and I want it all to be over but I can't just sit at home being afraid.
IDK what will happen tomorrow.
So just in case... Guys!!! I love you!!!!