A few days ago, with prosecutors still unprepared to try him, Petlin’s detention was extended until Dec. 22.
“I think he had an idea about the scale of the corruption,” said Petlin’s wife, Tatyana, “but none of us could even imagine this.”
Delayed consequences
Petlin was part of Strategy 31, which organized the Halloween protest and demonstrates on the 31st of every 31-day month in support of Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly. Other cities more often than not refuse permission for the rallies and haul away the demonstrators, but Yekaterinburg has allowed them. Here, the consequences come later.
In mid-July, investigators accused Legedin and Konygin of slander, a criminal offense, for holding up a picture of the chief prosecutor in a public square along with a sign saying “No to Corruption.” The offense carries a prison sentence of up to three years.
Legedin was frightened. Earlier in the summer he had applied for a British visa, hoping to visit England in August or September. When it arrived in August, he left. At Heathrow airport, he asked for political asylum, leaving behind his job at a pharmaceutical company.
“I didn’t want to leave my country,” he said, “but if I stayed, I knew I would go to prison. I don’t want that.”
Kuznetsov, a 54-year-old human rights activist and journalist, had been campaigning hard on behalf of Petlin, said his wife, Olga Moiseyeva. The authorities had never forgiven him for a successful suit he filed with the European Court of Human Rights, which in 2008 upheld the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Russia. In May, he began to hear disturbing rumors that the powers-that-be had had enough of him and intended to destroy him. Kuznetsov decided he should flee.
After reaching Turkey and then Israel on tourist visas, he decided he would go on to Britain without a visa, Moiseyeva said. That proved a serious mistake. He was prevented from boarding a flight and arrested. Israel wants to deport him to Russia, she said. He remains in an Israeli prison, trying to find a country that will accept him.
‘Declarations to actions’
Konygin was a lieutenant colonel in the police department in 2003 when his bosses asked him to support them in a scam, he said, signing false documents so they could help themselves to federal funds coming in from Moscow.
“I refused,” he said, “and I was fired.”
Challenging his dismissal, he got his job back. A week later, on Dec. 29, 2004, he was charged with stealing the money — the ruble equivalent of $200,000 — that he had refused to sign off on. After two years in pretrial detention, he was sentenced to four years. Unbeknownst to him, his sister, told he would be freed if there were some restitution, sold her apartment and paid $50,000. It didn’t help.
In September 2007, his parents’ home in a village 25 miles from Yekaterinburg mysteriously burned down. The fire department found no water available, Konygin said. His 70-year-old father died in the fire.
“I was not allowed to go to the funeral,” he said.
After his release on parole in January 2008, he began a campaign to clear his name. Soon the police department filed charges, insisting he repay the remaining $150,000.
Konygin, 43, and his wife now run a digital print shop. His clash with the authorities frightens her, and they argue about it. But they have three children, and he does not want them to hear their father called a thief.
“If we’re ever going to establish the rule of law, we have to go from declarations to actions,” he said. “I decided to act.”
In July, he was accused in the slander case along with Legedin. He intends to stay.
“I was born here,” he said. “It’s my home town, and I love it.”
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