Today in court, the governor of Kirov Region, Belykh, appeared as a “prosecution witness.” After that—and still now, as I write this post—the “review of written evidence” continued: the prosecutors are reading out the very payment slips whose existence they deny. I can’t say it’s especially riveting. At the same time, outside the courthouse, our epic battle over the right to say and write the phrase “Putin is a thief” continues. As usual, this morning at our AgitCube (a campaign information stand), which today was dedicated to Pekhtin, the United Russia party member with a Miami connection, we unfurled this forbidden banner:
The police immediately confiscated it using the same method I described in detail. In response, we are now doing something very simple: writing “Putin is a thief” on the asphalt with ordinary children’s chalk.
Yesterday and the day before, this asymmetrical move of ours caused quite a stir among the police and the plainclothes comrades present. What now—confiscate the paving stones? It’s not paint; chalk washes away after any rain, or simply disappears within a couple of hours under pedestrians’ feet. But we have plenty of chalk, and the inscription gets renewed. So what are they to do? Today, the Kirov city administration came up with its answer:
This gentleman here—Igor Shagalov, an inspector from the administration of Kirov’s Pervomaisky District—came over and, in all seriousness, drew up a report “for damage to city property, namely a chalk inscription on the asphalt.” When asked, “So when children draw with chalk on the pavement, is that also an offense?” he calmly replied, “Of course. If a minor is caught drawing with chalk on the asphalt, they will be detained and their case will be referred to the juvenile commission.” One minor was committing his malicious offense right there nearby at that very moment,
but we didn’t quite have the nerve to demand that he be held accountable, so he got away safely after “damaging city property.” All right. Kirov City Hall decided to troll us with a formalistic approach. We’re ready to play that game. Formal demands delivered with a straight face and the phrase “that’s your problem; by law, you have to solve it”—we love that sort of thing. The city of Kirov is known, among other things, for its truly monstrous roads. The roadway leading into the city center is full of potholes so large that after rain they turn into lakes where ducks live, and beavers have reportedly been spotted a couple of times. Any trench or dugout would envy the depth and solidity of Kirov’s potholes. For some reason, Igor Shagalov, inspector of Kirov’s Pervomaisky District administration, doesn’t notice the potholes at all and briskly steps around them on his way to our harmless chalk inscription on the sidewalk tiles. Meanwhile, as we all remember, any damage to the road surface (or sidewalk) exceeding the dimensions established by GOST (state technical standards) must be repaired within five days. That is exactly what our RosYama (“Russian Pothole”) project is built on. As I write this post, three mobile teams made up of volunteers are walking the streets in the city center around the Leninsky District Court and documenting every pothole that violates GOST.
And there are REALLY A LOT of them here, believe me.
By this evening, we will file no fewer than one hundred formal complaints with the traffic police (GIBDD) and the city administration, demanding that the violations be fixed within the legally required five-day period. That is, just in time for the next court hearing. If they can’t manage it, those responsible must be brought to administrative liability in each case, which we will push for very actively—and RosYama is very good at doing that. What’s more, if the potholes are not properly repaired, then in five days we will sue the Kirov city administration for inaction and for ignoring its direct responsibilities. No jokes. By the way, one in five road accidents here happens because of the poor condition of the road network. Since the beginning of this year alone, there have already been 164,000 traffic accidents in which 22,000 people have died. Fighting potholes and demanding the effective use of the many billions of rubles allocated for road maintenance is the duty of every responsible citizen. We thank Kirov City Hall for reminding us of that. I hope they work hard over the next five calendar days. We ask that Inspector Igor Shagalov be issued a personalized bucket of bitumen. Update. As a bonus: this is what a sewer manhole looks like on the roadway of Karl Liebknecht Street—that is, on the street where the Kirov Region government building is located: