Ruslan just called. The head of the medical unit gave him a phone so that Shaveddinov could provide an email address to which his medical records can be sent.
The current status of abducted ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation) staff member Shaveddinov is as follows:
- he is being unlawfully deprived of his liberty. A genuine political prisoner, or an exile if you prefer;
- in effect, the Ministry of Defense and military unit 23662 have simply been tasked with organizing a quasi-prison detention;
- he is not being kept locked up, but a person has been assigned to him who is with him literally every second. Whether Ruslan is sleeping, eating, or going to the bathroom, that person is there beside him, watching;
- he has already been told that he will not be given a phone under any circumstances. This is despite the fact that all the other conscript privates (since the Defense Ministry considers Ruslan to be one of them) do have phones. Saturday is, in fact, the official day when calls are allowed. Ruslan was told that he would not be allowed to call even on Saturdays. More broadly, he will have no communication with the outside world at all;
- in other words, it is the situation of a prisoner. An inmate can also walk around the barracks, but at least he is allowed to make calls from a payphone. In Shaveddinov's case, he too can only move around the barracks (it is -27°C outside and there is nowhere to go), but he is not allowed to call;
- Shaveddinov has a medically documented condition that makes him ineligible for military service. The head of the medical unit agreed to look at these papers, but what he will do with them is unclear;
- the military themselves do not understand a damn thing about what to do with him. In other words, they were sent a guy for the purpose of organizing his deprivation of liberty. And then what? On what grounds has a guard been assigned to him? Why was a conscript brought there by force, when that is impossible under the law? How can they deny him a phone? I mean, it is clear how: the law is the polar night, and the polar bear is the prosecutor. Even so, no one there seems especially eager to commit a whole string of criminal offenses for the sake of some crooks in Moscow who decided to amuse themselves by tormenting an ACF employee.
What next? Put him on guard duty under the watch of another five soldiers? Issue him a rifle while escorting him with ten more armed guards? The guy is wandering around a secret military base without even having taken the oath. No one takes it there; everyone is sent to Novaya Zemlya only after taking the oath and completing basic training.
Shaveddinov's lawyers are filing complaints: over abduction; over unlawful deprivation of liberty; over the unlawful ban on using communications services; over the unlawful actions of the Moscow draft office, which conscripted Ruslan into military service; over abuse of authority; seeking to have the search declared unlawful; seeking suspension of the enforcement of the decision; and a lawsuit against Yota for the unlawful suspension of communications services during the search.