<nettime> mailradek no. 21 (Larisa Shiptsova's letter)

["Oleg Kireev" <kireev@glasnet.ru>]

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This letter was written by Larisa Shiptsova-Romanova shortly after she had
been sentenced. The latest news from Krasnodar: Larisa is free. Comrades
from Krasnodar report: "one of the judges who took part in the cassational
trial on regional level, has expressed his own opinion and sent a
complaint to regional court presidium. The latter accepted it. The
Presidium cancelled the verdict of 20 July by administering punishment not
connected with imprisoning. That means a suspended sentence: It's still
hard to say who has rendered such a service. The lawyer says: "We do
work". But that can be also a FSB intrigue, or maybe, in fact, the
objectivity of one of the judges from the Presidium or something else.
Anyway, we hope that it's not a false report and Larisa will soon meet her
kinsfolk, friends and comrades in arms.  And her little daughter will soon
see the world as it is for the first time. 

 LARS' LETTER TO COMRADES FROM INVESTIGATION CELL

Hi to my dear friends and all people who feel worried about the "Krasnodar
epopee". I'm writing after a show performed by the court which resulted in
my imprisonment. Since the court session was open, many people could watch
the case disintegrating - all their fake evidences were clearly seen. 
Nepshikuyev had changed his testimonial statements again (now he refuses
the fact that he intended to blow up Kondrat's office - he wanted just to
blow something up, for fun); Randina, who was transferred to witnesses,
claims to have received some parcel (containing those damned grenades) at
my place from some people whom she doesn't remember since she was in state
of intoxication, and I (Larisa) was asleep at that time; witness Platonov
has testified the fact of oppression brought upon him by FSB and judge
Osipenko:  and things of the kind. Material evidences from my apartment
were also produced: soldering irons, wires, a dirty finger-size empty can
- the very can from which the dreaded experts have managed to get 2
grammes of explosive materials (they must have scraped it): I'm not going
to describe all that fuss - let the eye-witnesses do that - the Muscovites
and Krasnodarians who came to support me.  I also had many and not always
pleasant contacts with the media. At first I didn't want that, but FSB
continued to badger my family even after the end of the trial: threatening
my mother and step-father, searching my relatives, trying to falsely
charge my husband Ilya Romanov, interrogating and tracing my lawyer
Markelov. At the same time, just as I expected, the secret police began
searching through the leftist radicals. I only established contacts with
the media because these rascals are like roaches hiding in their holes in
the light, and i wanted to denounce FSB, their ways and also to show that
there's something in the world that they cannot either crush or suppress. 
Moreover, i openly proclaimed my anarcho-communist ideas. In the freedom,
together with other materials about the <Krasnodar case> gathered by me,
all these things are presented in the rough copy of my last word. I hope
that the people who possess these papers will publish it together with
this letter.  The "just and democratic" result was my 4 years sentence,
and 3 years for Nepshikuyev. By the way, here's a good lesson for all the
future "nepshikuyevs" actively cooperating with court. What about me, i'm
pretty fed up with my relatives' tears and liberal-democratic snivel. I
have to survive both physically and morally, thus fighting on.  Then i had
to spend some hours in the escort truck outside the jailhouse - the prison
authorities didn't want me, because, according to the law, they cannot
take pregnant women after 28 weeks (i had 32 at the moment). The escort
was already going to take me to 1st department, and then to Ust-Labinsk to
Camp 3. I liked that, for i couldn't even think of returning to the
jailhouse. But suddenly some important Krasnodarian man - colonel
Afanasiev - called and by personal order made the doctors take me to the
temporary investigation cell, directly violating the law. So now I'm
writing from the jailhouse infirmary. At first I had some confrontation
with the cell inspector, but then it all settled up in a few days - I try
not to quarrel, but neither I let oppress me. Now i'm occupying a good
place - the lower berth near the table. My comrades had aided by the third
day, so i'm quite accustomed now. Our cell is a transit one, so we don't
have much time to sleep, we receive and send jail-mail: letters and
parcels between cells and buildings. There's a crazy woman in our cell,
she's in a constant hysterics, she's urinating uncontrollably and stays
awake for two days in a row. We all have trouble with her. Most of my
cellmates are having their second sentence, so we're keeping the cell in
order; there are no lesbians, we guard the cell and contribute our
belongings to the common stock. The life is more free, compared to FSB
penitentiaries - food is easy to get, we communicate through the personnel
(prisoners who perform small services for keeping the jailhouse). The men
support us a little by sending tea, cigarettes and candies. But at the
same time i see people disintegrating of cancer, gangrene, sepsis. There
are no remedies, and the local doctors can't even take a blood sample.
Outing walks are 20-30 minutes long, the people are choking in their
cells.  The media, cops and politicians describe those who are imprisoned
as marginal elements and criminals, and the pseudo-leftist weenies call
them lumpens. But they are our people - humiliated and oppressed. All the
workers whom they deprived of their rights, work, wages; and thus they are
forced to commit small crimes to feed their families, their kids. Yes, the
rules of life here are hard, and even cruel, but there is also real mutual
aid - when people give their medicines to those who feel even worse and
those who have nothing; when they altogether declare a boycott against the
authorities' illegal treatment etc. But those who don't care about their
people, who doesn't know about their needs and sorrows, will never fell
the class hatred and the necessity of revolutionary violence. Aesthetes
refined and fed by authorities can only declare abstract humanism and
personal rights without even understanding what it is, and without knowing
that there will be constant humiliation and oppression, until the system
of state terrorizing.  But it is impossible to bring down the system
without physical extermination of those who support this system:
politicians, cops and other scum, who will never give away the power at
will. I'm writing these lines - not just writing, i suffered it - the
terror that is brought by anyone possessing power to any common man.  I
perfectly understand that these ideas can only be supported by the
minority, even among the leftists; moreover, even those who perform
"leftist protection" do think of me as of someone suffering the complex of
inferiority; the others even call me a provocateur among "normal"
leftists.  Let them be - i follow my own way, i hope that the leftists are
going to have some social roots sometime, and there will be more and more
people, whose life and fate are unbreakably connected both to social
revolutionary processes and to their own people.  I hope that the letter
will be published together with the last word, partially if necessary. I
also want my second letter from the FSB investigation cell to be published
together with the large article. 

26.07.99,
Revolutionary hails from Larisa Romanova
      translation: Alexey Kovalev

INFO: The last mailradek told about the arrest of the Anti-nuclear
campaign director Vladimir Slivyak. it's known, the militioners who
refused to call their names were forcing him to tell where is Jacov
Kochkarev, who was a defense's witness during the "Krasnodar case".
Kochkarev (who was at Slivyak's when the latter got arrested) was taken
the same day. He's still imprisoned and is accused in transporting drugs.
We definitely know, he didn't have any, and suppose the cops gave him the
same marijuana package which they promised to "find" in Slivyak's bag. FSB
which is investigating the latest explosions at Moscow was, probably,
trying to work out several versions, so Pimenov first, and than Slivyak
and Kochkarev were the victims of such "work". This all makes even the
news about the "real" Tchetchen terrorsists successfully "found" very
doubtful. 

    The Russian Helsinki group of human rights defense is gonna pay for
the Kochkarev's lawyer's work. Slivyak plans to provoke a case against the
militioners who tried to arrest him. 

Dmitrii Pimenov and Avdei Ter-Oganyan are in Prague, they're going to look
for a political asyl. The personal site of Dmitrii Pimenov has been
deleted by the personal order of internet provider <zenon>'s director . 



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