Lena. Photo: Vil Ravilov, for the Glasnaya project
Discussions around the draft law on the prevention of domestic violence in Russian society flare up episodically: some consider the proposed measures too mild, others see them as “intervention in family life.» Once again, the bill was promised to be submitted to the State Duma in the fall of 2021. But they haven't made it yet.
Meanwhile, the lack of measures to prevent domestic violence annually takes the lives of some women and cripples the fate of others. According to a study by Novaya Gazeta and Mediazona (the publication was included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents), 79% of women accused of murdering women themselves suffered from domestic violence.
Glasnaya tells the story of 46-year-old Elena D from Perm. The court sentenced her to 9 years and 9 months in prison for the murder of an unfamiliar man who beat his partner in front of her eyes. Today, already at large, Lena understands that this tragedy would hardly have happened in her life if she herself had not gone through the hell of domestic violence.
The “Different” series is a joint project of Glasnaya and Novaya Gazeta about people who do not fit into the conservative framework of the current Russian society, becoming invisible to the majority. By tradition, in Russia these “others”, different ones, are usually ignored, ignored — ignorance becomes an ideal soil on which xenophobia and discrimination sprout.
Unusual people themselves are often afraid to declare themselves. But there are more and more of those who have already overcome fear — women and men, with their behavior breaking stereotypes and the framework of patriarchy.
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February 8, 2015, 40-year-old Lena D. came to visit her friend in a communal apartment where she lived with her boyfriend. At that time, Lena worked at the plant as a packer, was divorced from her second husband and lived in the city of Lysva, Perm Territory, with a new man.
Her friend was not at home, Lena stayed to wait for her and suddenly heard screams in the next room. Having slightly opened the door, I saw how a man beats a woman in the face, and she cries and covers herself with her hands. When Lena interceded — “Why are you hitting a woman?” — The man switched to her and hit her on the head several times. Trying to avoid a fight, Lena returned to her friend's room, but the man followed her, continuing to strike.
— One of his blows, the second, and on the third … prostration — as if I had been deprived of my soul. I sit in a chair with a knife in my hands, like a zombie, and I look at one point. I don’t remember how I took this knife — it was on the table, they cooked fish there. Then I saw blood, he shouted obscenely, went into the hallway and fell down there. I think: “They don’t just fall… If they hit the leg, maybe…”
The next thing Lena remembers is that the “gray-green” man is lying in the hallway. The concubine kicks him and shouts: “Damn you, creature!” Lena feels his pulse — there is, but weak — and runs to the neighbors to call an ambulance. Five minutes later, the doctors arrived, followed by the police.
— But I was no longer up to others: I understood what I had done. In my head, I already wrote out a term for myself, and a sentence, and mentally went to the colony.
At two o'clock in the morning, the police told Lena that the man died from a stab wound to the heart.
“They fed and pricked”
— There are moments when I can’t talk about past. I don't even want to remember.
In December morning twilight, Lena meets me on the threshold of the Perm center «Unstrangers» — with makeup and hair pinned up, in jeans and a milk-colored large-knit sweater. Busily asks to speak in a whisper: other members of the household are still sleeping. Then he gives slippers and leads to the kitchen along an infinitely long corridor. The same as our upcoming conversation.
Lena brews tea bags in mugs with colorful cats. Asks to turn off the recorder. For the first half an hour, we are talking off the record, then Lena still gathers her strength and allows us to turn on the recorder.
Photo: Vil Ravilov, for the Glasnaya project
The Strangers Center opened in Perm in the spring of 2021. The founder of the center is Anna Kargapoltseva, the founder of the interregional public organization for the social prevention of crimes «Vybor».
This is the first center in Russia for women convicted of killing their rapist — a partner or relative.
Up to eight women can live here at the same time, while three live. Psychologists and human rights activists help them collect documents to restore their housing or parental rights. The guests work at a private sewing factory, with which the center has signed an agreement.
Lena has been living in the center for the fourth month since she was released from the colony. For that murder of an unfamiliar man, she served almost seven years — and came out with a bracelet on her leg, her term had not yet ended. Her fate is no worse than the fate of other women passing through this center, but this is what is most terrible.