The punishments imposed on opposition figures and critics in Russia this year were draconian. Unpopular organizations and media were banned. Civil society still exists – but for how long?
A dozen people stand in thick snow in front of the remains of the wall of a notorious former prison complex in Moscow. They listen attentively to a young woman who shows old photos and documents. She traces the lives of individuals in order to make the horror of Stalinist terror tangible.
Something like this is more important than ever today because the number of political prisoners in Russia is increasing, says one of the listeners. “It’s all the more important now to remember what it was like. And how terrible it will be when we really go back to that time.”
550 politically motivated judgments
Comparisons with the Stalin era – they have never been heard as frequently as this year. The civil rights portal OVD-Info counted more than 550 politically motivated judgments by December. More than last year, says lawyer Polina Kurakina. There are also harsher prison sentences, harsher sentences, more solitary confinement, stricter and sometimes cruel prison conditions.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, 25 years in prison camp; Alexei Navalny, 19 years old; Dmitry Ivanov, 8.5 years old; Sascha Skotschilenko, seven years old; Igor Baryshnikov, Alexei Moskalev, Alexander Nozdrinov – the list of those who ended up in Russian prison camps for alleged violations of law and order has grown longer with each passing month.
Not only prominent critics were condemned
But it is no longer just prominent critics of the regime who are subjected to a penal system for years or even decades that has its roots in the notorious Soviet gulag system. They are also ordinary people who dared to speak out, who condemned the war against Ukraine, who tried to rouse their fellow human beings from the widespread political apathy.
A wrong word in a street survey, a blank sheet of paper or a critical post on social media. It doesn’t take much, says the co-founder of the human rights organization Memorial, Oleg Orlov, to end up in the wheels of justice. People would be prosecuted for private conversations – conversations about the war on the street or because they talk to neighbors and are denounced.
Orlov also in court
The 70-year-old has long been on trial himself because he continues to express his opinion publicly despite massive pressure from the authorities. He calls Putin’s system fascist and totalitarian – and the war that must officially be called “special military operation”: war.
The public prosecutor’s office no longer just accuses him of repeatedly discrediting the Russian armed forces, but of destabilizing Russian society. Through his critical statements in interviews, he undermines Russia’s political and constitutional order.
Many organizations banned
Criticism is branded as a betrayal of the people and fatherland. Action can be taken against anything and anyone who is not on the given line. On the basis of vaguely worded, constantly tightening laws.
The Moscow Helsinki Group was forcibly disbanded, the Sakharov Center was banned, the human rights group Agora was declared undesirable – as were Greenpeace, the WWF, the Internet portal Meduza, the television station Dozhd, and the investigative journalists of the Conflict Intelligence Team. What is undesirable is anything that acts independently, whether on a large or small scale.
The list of those who have to defame themselves as “foreign agents” with every post and every email also grows longer every month. Local politicians, actors, band leaders, authors, journalists, scientists, experts, bloggers – not even the lawyers who take legal action against arbitrary decisions by authorities or flimsy charges are now safe.
“They still exist civil society”
And yet they find each other. Because civil society still exists in Russia, says human rights activist Orlov. However, your scope is very limited. Opposition figures, activists, media representatives and civil rights activists often only have to appear in court to ask critical questions, at least in front of a small audience. To hold up a mirror to the judiciary as a compliant part of the system and society.
“Why is our country like this?” asks an old lady quietly, with a sad voice. Despite the snow, she and the motley group spent two hours on the trail of state violence in Moscow. Actually, she adds, they aren’t that few after all.
The twelve who came together that day try to encourage each other. And yet there is still a hint of doubt. Many are expecting that the pressure will increase again before the presidential election in March next year – as predictable as the result is.
Christina Nagel, ARD Moscow, tagesschau, December 19, 2023 1:11 p.m