Wow, I’m so behind on the news cycle that I’m almost afraid to write much right now. This morning, the radio reported that our lawyers’ offices were being searched.
And now a defense lawyer has come in and says the offices have been taken over too, equipment is being seized, and staff are being tracked down in the cafés of our business center.
We’ll see what happens next, but for now, briefly:
In fact, the main point is written right in the heading of this so-called “inspection material,” the one the Investigative Committee press release was about in the middle of the August 3 protest.
It says so quite plainly, in the upper left corner: “on shutting down funding channels.”
Not “on an inquiry” under Article 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, not “on the results of financial monitoring,” not “on responding to a notice from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation,” but a direct instruction in the style of an “active measure” — the thousand-and-first attempt to stop our work by forbidding you from supporting us.
Ever since that very moment in 2011, when I wrote this post and started raising money from you to pay the salary of RosPil’s first lawyer — Lyubov Sobol, who has now become one of the leaders of the protests and a symbol of the fight for voting rights — the Kremlin has been driven mad by the thought that an absolutely independent organization is operating right under its nose. And that organization simply doesn’t care. You can’t intimidate it, you can’t buy it off, you can’t influence it “through sponsors,” because the guarantee of ACF’s independence is the several tens of thousands of people who come here every month and send us 1,000 rubles from their hard-earned wages.
1. What we are seeing now is the most aggressive attempt yet to silence us, but overall there is nothing new about it.
We will not give up, we will not leave, and we will not abandon what we do. Russia is our country; we have no other.
Right now, it is important that you do not abandon us either, and that you continue to support us — morally (just post on any social network if you have ever sent us money) and materially: go here, because we will clearly have new expenses after a raid like this.
I am sure this aggression is tied to an important tactical goal — to derail Smart Voting. The Kremlin is terrified of it, especially in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Urge everyone to go there, as loudly and forcefully as possible.
You understand, of course, that the strategic goal of this raid and the fabrication of all the other absurd criminal cases is intimidation.
Well, if you understand that, then don’t get rattled. There is nothing all that terrifying about it. From now on, Putin’s entire domestic policy will consist of this and nothing else.
And to hell with it. They can’t jail everyone. Yes, some random people will be thrown behind bars, but that is already happening anyway (“the Network case” and the “New Greatness case” — Russian politically charged criminal cases).
This government is stupid and harmful; it survives on fear alone. The moment we stop being afraid, all of them — from Putin to Zolotov and Pamfilova — will run to Paris so fast they will forget to take off their medals and unclip their beards.
Don’t be afraid — come out to rallies. Show solidarity. Do not stay silent.
It isn’t scary. It’s just like in the fairy tale “The Monster Cockroach” (a famous children’s poem by Korney Chukovsky about fear of an ultimately powerless tyrant).