For more than a year now, a criminal trial has been going on in the Lublin Court of Moscow against Vladimir Vorontsov, a former policeman and creator of the public «Police Ombudsman». He is accused of extortion, distribution of pornography, slander and insulting a government official.
Vladimir Vorontsov. Photo: Artem Geodakyan/TASS
The trial began in December 2020. And it seemed that the process would go quietly and imperceptibly. Suddenly, the situation in court heated up after the interrogation of the victim, who retracted her testimony. She told the court that employees of the Internal Security Service (Department of Internal Security) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs allegedly promised her reinstatement in the service in the bodies in exchange for a slander. The witness for the prosecution, Yevgeny Moiseev, also added noise, stating that the extortion episode was allegedly falsified against Vorontsov by operatives. Vorontsov's defense appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and the FSB.
Former Center E operative Vladimir Vorontsov served in the police for a total of 13 years. He resigned in 2017, almost immediately after the launch of the Police Ombudsman community on VKontakte. The prosecution of Vorontsov began with a criminal case on fraud. He allegedly demanded 300 thousand rubles from the former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Rasim Kurbanov after the publication of his photo “below the belt”. Then, a case was added to the “track record” for distributing nude photos of an ex-employee of the PDN (juvenile affairs unit) in the chat. And after that, the “collection” of criminal charges was replenished with insults to a representative of the authorities, slander against a woman lawyer and extortion.
In the bottom line, the former policeman “hung” 14 episodes: one about slander (part 1 of article 128.1 of the Criminal Code), two about extortion (paragraph “d” of part 2 of article 163 of the Criminal Code ; part 1, article 163 of the Criminal Code), three — about the distribution of pornography (paragraphs «a», «b» of part 3 of article 242 of the Criminal Code) and eight — about insulting a representative of the authorities (article 319 of the Criminal Code).
Vorontsov has been in jail since May 2020.
“Novaya” referred her questions to the ex-police officer through a lawyer.
— Serious charges have been brought against you, and even in such a huge amount. You claim that the criminal case is falsified. Do you have any idea who is behind your persecution?
— I, my relatives, lawyers and sympathizers — we can only guess and build hypotheses. But there is one indisputable and objectively established fact: on the audio recording, CSS officer Krivoshein (from the video «Save the police ombudsman» posted by Vorontsov's friends. — Ed.) in a conversation with the victim Andina says on whose instructions he arrived, and names a specific and very serious official in the police who has this situation under control.
For the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it would probably be more correct to merge this talker, who set himself up like that, and mentioned the name of a high boss to a fairly wide audience. What does the MIA do? In October 2021, Andina claims in court that the case is falsified and she committed the slander under pressure. The audio recording is published. Many media outlets cover this. A State Duma deputy writes a deputy's request to the Minister of the Interior. And what is the reaction? Ideally, he should be fired. At a minimum, the Ministry of Internal Affairs should have distanced itself from him.
Instead, they record a congratulatory video with Krivoshein on the new year. <…> How did it happen that out of an entire army of almost 90,000 policemen, he was chosen? In my opinion, this is a completely understandable unambiguous signal to both society and employees: we will imprison anyone, fabricate criminal cases, falsify evidence, imprison the innocent. We'll have your back anyway. Even if the fact of your abuse is recorded on a dictaphone. We will insert you into the New Year's video, and this will be a guarantee of immunity.
It would have been much smarter on their part to present everything in such a way that it was an excess of the performer — a personal initiative of an ordinary employee. But with their congratulations to “dear Russians”, they seem to indirectly confirm what Krivoshein said on the audio recording. />
Vasily Fedorov and Irina Andina. Screenshot from the video “Save the Police Ombudsman”
— How was the preliminary investigation? Has there been pressure on you and your family? Offered a deal?
— When they opened the first case of extortion, as fabricated as the second, they made it clear that they would still initiate it. And if I plead guilty and testify against myself about what I did not do, then they will be limited to this. Naturally, I sent them away.
It's a huge difference when you really did something, but, let's say, weak evidence — and you are offered a deal, and
It is a completely different matter when you did nothing, and you are offered to go against your conscience and incriminate yourself.
As a result, 14 criminal cases. Only I look them straight in the eyes and openly say: “I didn’t do this, and you know it.”
And they bashfully lower their eyes down.
In general, this is absurd, of course . The victim was silent for three years, then at 00 hours 10 minutes he wrote a statement that three years ago they demanded money from him by phone. He got scared and hung up. Three years later I wrote a statement — and here's the special forces at the window.
Russia is a generous soul. No deals were offered and there was no pressure either.
— You probably guessed that a criminal case was being prepared against you. Have you tried in any way to prevent this persecution? Perhaps you were thinking of leaving the country with your family, or were you counting on an informal agreement with the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?
— Activities in relation to me were carried out from February 2017 to May 2020. During this time, my family and I survived three searches, 11 carbon-copied civil lawsuits related to maintaining a public, an on-site tax audit, which in 99% of cases is carried out in relation to legal entities, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs lobbied against me as an individual, as well as trips of an employee of the UBEP of Moscow to many donors.
We wrote them <MVD> in public, open letters that we want to interact and that we are not their enemies. In the spring of 2018, they even condescended to meet. Assistant to Irina Volk — Head of the Internet Resources Department of the UOS <Public Relations Department> Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation — Irina Bayanova met with me and said that the public has a serious influence on them. Mostly negative, she says. But they considered the issue of cooperation. As a conciliatory gesture, the question of including me in the public council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was considered. But after that, everything fell apart. They just stopped communicating.
And the situation is completely opposite in my communication with the National Guard. We met, discussed and found a format for interaction. Why such difference? Because in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, most of the people responsible for making decisions have the psychology of thinking gopniks from the 90s. They think according to the principle: «grind, solve, cough.» Therefore, when some annoying public figure annoys them, they quite naturally believe that he is “bulling” at them, and if so, then they need to press him. And they sincerely do not see anything shameful in this.
Not without unnecessary pathos
they like to claim that in the 90s they shielded the country from organized crime groups. And partly it is. But the problem is that, having ousted or defeated this or that organized crime group, they themselves took their place.
Ancient Chinese wisdom: “He who kills a dragon becomes a dragon himself.”
—You yourself defended the labor rights of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and now they are sending you to jail and testifying against you. What would you say to former colleagues who are involved in your case?
Of the 14 episodes of my alleged criminal activity, falsifications and false testimony, only two. These are extortions against Rasim Kurbanov and Irina Andina. For the rest of the episodes, the law was applied incorrectly. Andina seemed to be trying to save me (…).
But the investigators [to tell me] have something. Your policy of acquiescence will eventually land you behind bars. More precisely, even already begins to result. They think that by following the whims of their leadership, they are imprisoning the innocent — they get some kind of guarantee of immunity. Committing lawlessness and lawlessness, they themselves seem to receive immunity from such. But this is only an appearance, since they will not be imprisoned precisely for this, but they will be imprisoned for something else. In CSS, no one canceled the stick system. Today you are all such an important, procedurally independent investigator in pants with stripes, and tomorrow in the detention center a semi-literate ensign shuffles your belongings and makes you squat naked, while cutting off the laces on expensive boots and removing arch supports. And all the pathos was blown away by the wind.
What are you doing? Afraid to resist — then just quit. But don't take part in it. You break other people's destinies and doom many families to long suffering. Why?
Hold Vladimir Vorontsov. Screenshot
—Do the current employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs sympathize with you, maybe guards, employees of the pre-trial detention center and others? Do the police in the pre-trial detention center write to you in support of you?
— To a greater extent, of course, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But there are also employees from the FSIN system. I will never forget my first days in the Kapotnya pre-trial detention center. You have to understand that Kapotnya is the worst of all the prisons under Moscow jurisdiction. Firstly, the pre-trial detention center is considered quarantine. Secondly, according to the plan of the capital's council, they dream of making it an exemplary regime. And here are the first days of confinement: hunger, cold, loneliness. You are in prostration. And suddenly the feeder opens, and there the DPNSI (on-duty assistant to the head of the pre-trial detention center) says to me:
“Are you Vorontsov? Police Ombudsman? — he hands me a bag, and there — tea, sugar and a couple of sweets. It was the first act of kindness on the part of the administration. Of course, I appreciate it.
— In what conditions are you kept in the pre-trial detention center? How do your cellmates feel about your case?
— After the court arrested me in May 2020, they left me in a temporary detention center for 10 days. A member of the PMC came there and said: «The Moscow Federal Penitentiary Service is preparing for your reception.» At that time, due to the coronavirus, the order was in effect: all new arrivals were taken to quarantine in the Kapotnya pre-trial detention center. Bypassing these rules, I was immediately taken to Medvedkovo. This means that only the head of the UFSIN could violate the order of the head of the UFSIN.
They put him in solitary confinement for almost four months. All communication is strictly under the registrar. He handed out food instead of the usual «longitudinal ensign», either the DPNSI or the deputy.
But at the same time, they provided a TV, a refrigerator, a kettle. That is, it seems like creating a semblance of legality, but without any obvious fastening and repression.
Since then, we have been looking for mutual concessions and compromises. The system is absolutely idiotic, the attitude towards people is swine, it's just that they try to pretend with respect to me. And to a certain extent, I also have to play by these rules. Both I and they understand that a bad peace is better than a good war.
They are afraid of publicity, like a vampire of sunlight. And here is such a gift — a blogger, and even a former employee.
The attention of journalists, the support of caring people, personal guarantees from well-known citizens, regular visits to me by members of the PMC and the HRC under the President of the Russian Federation — all this is a headache for the unfortunate FSIN. And I, as a former law enforcement officer, in some cases know their own regulatory framework better than they do, which they admit.
So we have been living since then on the terms of these political agreements: they are trying to ensure that my rights are respected, but if they do not always succeed, then I turn to the management of the institution, and not outside the pre-trial detention center. As a rule, action is taken. Everything that is supposed to, you have to literally gnaw out from them. This is both medicine and domestic moments. But anyway.
Vladimir Vorontsov in court. Photo: Artem Geodakyan/TASS
— During the time that you are in custody, were you given the opportunity to communicate with your family? How do they experience your imprisonment?
— When there was a consequence — no calls and dates. The investigator said bluntly: if he gives at least one, he will be fired. Bullying in its purest form. When the case went to court, it became a little easier. The judge allowed my wife as a defense attorney on a par with a lawyer, and we got the opportunity to see each other without restrictions.
The daughter constantly asks: “Where is daddy?” We have to lie to her that I'm on a business trip. She was only four when they closed me. Now it's six.
When, in the debate of the parties, the prosecutor, without blushing, will request a real term, we will understand how much she will be when I return home. Grandmother feels very bad and hard to endure the whole situation. She is 82, she is disabled, her hand was amputated, her eyesight is almost completely lost, glaucoma, cataracts … We attach medical documents to the judge and ask for house arrest or a subscription, but she wanted to spit.
— The trial in the Lublin Court has been going on since December 2020. How is the trial going? Do you feel any prejudice on the part of judge Kalinina?
— The behavior of the judge, if expressed mathematically, is a sinusoid for me. On the one hand, she allowed her wife as a defender, gives written permission to call relatives. And on the other hand, completely unmotivated and arbitrarily keeps me in custody.
Special attention deserves her behavior at the time of interrogation of the victim in the most toxic and grossly fabricated episode — extortion. I had some experience of participation in the courts and always saw when the judge was engaged. If the case is fabricated and the victim is floating, then the biased judge will try to help him, remove questions that are uncomfortable and dangerous for the prosecution. So, Judge Kalinina, to her credit, almost none of our questions was removed. Rather, on the contrary: when the prosecutor and the “Wesbash” lawyer Kurbanov tried to make frankly cheap attempts to remove our questions, the judge sharply upset them and in some places even herself interrogated this pseudo-victim, bringing him to clean water.
As a person not devoid of naivete at first, I was fascinated by the actions of this judge. I think: “Well, wow! There are still judges in Russian villages.” But in the end, I think she was just interested in getting to the bottom of it. To understand for herself, was this crime even in reality?
And now she was convinced that there was no crime. Take it and put it on house arrest. But no. So, something or someone is interfering.
— After the publication of the video “Save the Police Ombudsman” and after the speech in court by one of the victims, Irina Andina, has the course of the process somehow changed? How did the judge react to her testimony?
The judge didn't like it very much. She immediately postponed the process and overtook the bailiffs, as if the peasants were supposed to come with torches, pitchforks and axes. They do not like publicity very much — it is easier to endure unjust acts. Lawlessness loves silence.
— Just after the release of the video, your lawyer filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office, the FSB and other bodies to conduct an investigation into the falsification of the criminal case. Are there any results?
— The prosecutor's office is silent, the FSB forwarded the complaint to the Investigative Committee, and the Investigative Committee — «on the ground», in the end it is considered by the same investigator who sent the case to the court.
— What was your reaction when Andina retracted her testimony, and one of the witnesses stated about pressure from the investigation. Did this come as a surprise to you?
— I was just in shock. She played so sincerely, and all these one and a half years I hated her. Moreover, the investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the detectives of the CSS knew about this. And now it turns out that Andina did it on purpose to save me, and their <Krivoshein and the others> bring to clean water. And she brought them out.
I have no complaints about Andina herself. But to the employees… <They> completely discredited themselves.