"Don't cry, don't be afraid, don't ask"
"Don't cry, don't be afraid, don't ask"
Such a "code" is written for "thugs" regarding behavior in the cell and in the area. But if you think about it, in situations where "communication" with the authorities takes place everywhere, such a credo is useful to everyone. When MP Khmara was illegally arrested on November 7, 1990, after Colonel Grigoriev's provocation, the PSA (re-registered with the UHS in April of that year) could not stand aside and organized a series of rallies demanding his release. One day (it was a Friday) it was decided to organize a picket in front of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (now the presidential administration). We arrived early (around half past seven), stood in front of the entrance to the Central Committee (so as not to obstruct traffic, because at that time there was a provision that obstructing traffic or entering the premises of its staff is illegal), unfurled posters. I had a poster "Hands off the Cloud". Of course, everything was written by hand in the simplest way.
We realized that they were waiting for us, because as soon as we arrived, the police started walking around with a walkie-talkie, reporting something (probably J). Just five minutes later, an officer approached us and warned us that we were breaking the law and that if we did not leave now, appropriate measures would be taken against us. We, of course, thanked him and said that we would continue to stand. Literally in three minutes the bus "pazyk" arrived, chubby guys began to pull us inside - politely but persistently. I was detained for the first time, I did not know how to behave, but, as my husband later laughed - "you, like a real" bunny ", did not walk with his feet to the area." I just got up and didn't go to the bus, and the chubby guys took me inside. There were about seven or nine of us, and the whole group was taken to the Leninsky district police station on Prorizna Street (then Sverdlov Street), just behind the State Television and Radio (then the Ministry of Culture) in the yard. We were taken into the corridor and, closing the door outside, left. Our group was very diverse. Most are men between the ages of 17 and 60. I think there was another woman, but I can't remember for sure - sorry!
We began to look around - one door led to the room where the police came in and out (police officers, as I later understood). They looked at us with interest and from time to time threw phrases like - "Oh! This will give two or three years "," Well, they will be closed now… "and so on. It was only later that I realized that this was part of the "processing" of the detainees. One of the policemen greeted me, which surprised me a lot. Then I realized that this is our precinct. We lived on Saksagansky Street then, my father was active in the district veterans' organization, so his previous impressions of me were "positive". The other door led to a room with a small barred window, where from time to time there was a shout - "boss, I want to say, lead me…".
There were detainees for theft, hooliganism and more. "Political", that is, we were not locked up there - either because we were rich for such a room, or for other reasons. So we stood all day (we arrived around nine in the morning, and I left at the beginning of the seventh in the evening), leaning against the wall in the corridor. At two o'clock we were not touched at all, and then one person was called to the office. Tactics with different detainees were different - threats, intimidation and so on. When it was my turn, a different approach was taken. There were three men in the office (they didn't introduce themselves, and I wasn't experienced enough at the time to ask) who were sitting in different corners. They asked me about my place of work. At that time I worked at a design institute. They didn't ask about the family, but I understand that the precinct officer told them that I had not been noticed "in the connections of the defamers."
The audience began to ask (almost rhetorically) - how did it happen that I am so successful - with work, with family - husband and child, with a veteran communist father (not said, but probably thought and hinted to me), with an apartment - with all the attributes of a "good Soviet man" - contacted "these" - demigods and criminals. Since childhood, I did not like when they began to negatively evaluate my friends and deny me a relationship with them. Therefore, it was not a successful communication on my part. I'm not talking about what infuriated me that they reduced everything to some aspect of everyday life, without touching on the ideology (which I was then naive J). After "individual treatment" we were left alone again. We entertained each other as best we could. Suddenly, one of the detainees, a man of retirement age, mentioned that he lived here. We were very impressed - how is it here? in the police? It turned out that there used to be a conservatory dormitory in the police station - a kind of "transformation".
This made us very happy, and the mention of the conservatory suggested that, as we sit here, we have nothing to do - why not sing? We started singing our songs. The first, of course, was "Oh, in the meadow red viburnum" - extremely popular at the time, without it no meeting was complete, and sometimes it was sung several times. And I must say that the door between the
we and "freedom" were transparent. And when we started singing the song, we suddenly saw that in front of the transparent door on the other side are our leaders - deputies of the city council, members of the PSA. Everyone laughed at once, because it looked like a movie about the revolution - the detainees are singing revolutionary songs, and their leaders are watching it with approval.
Deputies were listened to (there, behind the door), we were not allowed in and nothing was promised for us. Knowing that we should be summoned to a judge, we decided that no one would agree to speak without a lawyer. We heard this from "adult" dissidents, so we decided to do it ourselves. Sometime in the evening (after five o'clock) we were summoned by one person to the judge, after which the detainees did not return, so we did not know anything about what and how was happening "in court". I left almost at the end. One judge was sitting in the room. He gave me a report of the detention with the testimony. There were many testimonies, but there were no "witnesses" when we stood near the Central Committee. That is, it was a "linden". I was outraged, and when I saw in the text of the testimony that she was standing and holding a poster "Down with the CPU" (see the beginning of the story - what poster I was holding), I could not stand it and said: "I have long known that there are falsifications in the courts, but I did not think that this could happen due to such a trivial fact. I agree with the slogan "Get rid of the CPU", which is attributed to me, but I had another poster in my hands. That's why I won't sign anything without a lawyer. " The judge looked at me and asked - when will you come with a lawyer?
Remember, I wrote that it was Friday. Of course, I didn't have a lawyer, but then there was Hapersky's lawyer who advised the Movement, and I hoped that I could find him and convince him to help. It takes time, so I said I could come next Tuesday. "All right," said the judge, "come tomorrow at 11 o'clock in the morning." That's what I went for. Our small community, which has already been "judged", stood on the street. I thought they, like me, should come tomorrow or another day. But, as it turned out, only I had such a situation. Everyone else was awarded either 10 rubles or administrative violations. It came as a complete surprise to me - they agreed so, but it happened differently; others got rid of "small losses", so why should I go to court on Saturday? I go back, look at the judge and ask - and you can convict me today, because everyone was given 10 rubles - I also agree! And the judge looked at me so cunningly and said - no… come tomorrow with a lawyer.
I came out upset. My detention comrades calmed me down and said that everyone would come to support me tomorrow. Someone gave me Hapersky's phone, I called him and told him what had happened. He said so - in what you said, I do not see the corpus delicti or even an offense. There is no need for my presence. And then this phrase - if you are arrested - I will join. With such "preconditions" I came to court the next day. Apart from me and my husband, only one of the detainees came yesterday, a colleague Nadiya Samulyak, who brought all the money she had in the house (about 300 rubles - rough money as at that time) as bail, as well as my husband's colleague. who at that time was a deputy of the Shevchenkivska district council, chairman of the democratic bloc) - a deputy of the Kyiv city council also from the democratic bloc.
Deputies came with badges and asked the judge to be present during my case. The judge did not object. At that time, district judges were waiting for approval from the city council, so the presence of "support" was to increase the tolerance of judges. I repeated what my lawyer had advised me to do. The judge silently flipped through the case file. Then he looked up at me and said - I reviewed your case and found no corpus delicti. That's why I'm closing the case. … After a short pause I asked - what now? - Go yourself - says the judge. - But I was detained, kept without water and food all day, it harmed my health… - and it's not up to me, says the judge, - File a complaint to the appropriate authorities. That's what we came up with - happy, winged and determined about the next steps. At that time, there were very few people who could help write a complaint properly.
Interestingly, I was introduced to a lawyer who helped me write a complaint to the prosecutor's office for 25 rubles (a large sum is more than an administrative penalty). The answer made me tense again - the conclusion was that there was a violation, as a result of which I was "illegally acquitted." When I later and to this day mention this wording and give it to lawyers, judges, lawyers, they say that it is, to some extent, a unique answer. Because there are known cases when people were illegally convicted, and in order not to be legally acquitted, they did not meet. And now what? I asked again. I was told. that the prosecutor's office may now, under supervision, reopen my case to punish "in all the severity of Soviet law."
But it was 1990, no one began to engage in such misery, and I learned a lesson for myself all life - do not cry, do not be afraid, do not ask!