Tag Archives: political refugees
by hecksinductionhour | February 26, 2013 · 5:41 pm
Nineteen, in Kyiv, and in Danger: An Interview with Filipp Dolbunov
publicpost.ru
What doesn't kill us makes us stronger
— Yegor Letov, "We're Getting Stronger"
Until recently, the habit that young left-wing activists have of dreaming up conspiratorial nicknames for themselves seemed mere child's play, a tribute to a red romanticism long out of fashion. I spoke with Filipp Dolbunov, better known as Filipp Galtsov and whom I'm used to calling just plain Filippok, the day before the latest pogrom-like police search took place in his Moscow apartment. He is nineteen years old, in Kyiv, and in danger. The Russian government wants to put him in jail. He is a revolutionary.
Filipp Dolbunov
— First of all, I wanted to ask whether you're safe.
No, I'm not safe now. I'm experiencing unhealthy attention from the Russian and Ukrainian security services. In particular, as I've learned, I've secretly been put on the wanted list in Russia. My parents are visited once a week by the police, people from Center "E", and perhaps the FSB. In Ukraine, I am being followed by the SBU.
I also don't feel safe because the UNHCR does not respond to my requests for asylum.
— Are you afraid you could be deported?
Yes, that possibility exists. After Leonid Razvozzhayev's abduction in Kyiv and considering that the Ukraine's statistics for deporting refugees are high, it's quite possible. And knowing what close friends the SBU are with the FSB and Center "E", I would raise the likelihood of this several times.
— You say you're being followed. What does that look like?
On February 6, for example, I was followed from the building of the Ukraine Migration Service right to the place where I'm staying. Three men bearing a strong resemblance to police investigators followed me at a distance of forty meters. They periodically stopped and pretended to talk. In the subway, they got into the car next to mine and glared at me the whole way. They got out at the same station as I did and took the same street as I did. Only when we were approaching the house did I shake them. I saw one of them running after me, but I managed to escape. Kyiv police officers are now periodically staked out near the house.
"Honor the UN convention on the rights of refugees"
— Why do you think the security services are so interested in you?
I think the security services are now paying special attention to people with leftist views. If a person defends his position not only in theory but also in practice, this interest often leads to something unhealthy from their point of view. The economic situation in Russia is now rather dodgy. The government is cutting spending on education, health care and other social needs. Unlike the liberals, who are enthusiastic only about "Russia without Putin," the left speak loudly about these problems. The authorities are most afraid of a societal explosion. Hence the persecution, crackdowns, and intimidation on the part of the security services.
— What did you personally do to annoy them?
Lately I've been active in social movements, for example, the defense of the Khimki and Tsagovsky forests, support for workers' dormitory residents [facing eviction] in Moscow, and the movement for fair elections. I have also been involved in some unsanctioned protest actions, but of course I didn't do what they're charging me with.
— What was your real role in the events of May 6, and what are you accused of doing?
As the lawyers and civil rights advocates tell me, I might be facing the charge of "organizing a riot." The investigation is seriously basing itself on Leonid Razvozzhayev's confession of guilt [whose authenticity has been disputed, first of all by Razvozzhayev himself], where I was identified as someone who allegedly led a column of anarchists. In fact, that day I marched in the column of the Russian Socialist Movement, of which I'm a member. I used no violence against police officers, all the more so because there was no "rioting" on Bolotnaya Square.
— You were a witness in the case of another person charged in the Bolotnaya Square case, Stepan Zimin? Have you been pressured in this connection?
Yes, I volunteered to be a witness in Stepan's case. On October 25, I was abducted from my home by several Center "E" officers, who tried to force me into testifying against Konstantin Lebedev, Razvozzhayev and Sergei Udaltsov [during an interrogation] at the Investigative Committee. My apartment was searched. The same day I was released, with them telling me my procedural status was not clear. That is, it was difficult to understand whether I was a witness or a suspect. A week later, I finally received a [legal, written] summons from Investigator Marukyan. In my testimony, I said that Stepan had not thrown stones, had not used violence against police officers, and had not taken part in any rioting. During the questioning, Markuyan threatened to send me to the army if I didn't, to borrow his expression, "stop talking nonsense."
— Why did you decide to leave Russia right at this moment?
They had begun pressuring my relatives — my mother, grandmother, and grandfather. During the October 25 search, the eshniki [Center "E" officers] threatened that if my relatives continued to interfere with their "work," they would be sent to the Investigative Committee for questioning. I left because too many facts had piled up that pointed to the possibility of my being arrested. From November to early January, people from Center "E" and the FSB came to my house once a week: they would ask where I was and threaten and intimidate my relatives. And recently, on February 12, they dragged my grandmother, who is seventy years old, in for questioning.
— How did you become a leftist? What influenced you?
I once was at a Grazhdanskaya Oborona concert, where I met really interesting people who were wearing hammer and sickle or anarchy patches. Then I gradually started reading, following the news, and looking at what was happening around me, and I realized that it was not even the country that had to be changed, but the whole world, the [entire] system of economic, human and spiritual relations.
— What's your favorite Yegor Letov song?
Well, I have two favorites: "Sing, Revolution" and "We're Getting Stronger."
— You are applying for refugee status? How are things going?
At the moment I'm looking to be resettled in a third country, because I absolutely don't feel safe here. Things are going badly, because the UNHCR does not react to reports of persecution on the part of the Ukrainian authorities. I don't know how to explain this. The head of the local UNHCR office has said in the press that Ukraine is not a safe country for refugees. But considering the circumstances that I and other political refugees from Russia find ourselves in, I cannot understand why they can't provide us with additional protection.
Besides me, Other Russia activist Alexei Devyatkin, journalist Jenny Kurpen, and Solidarity activist Mikhail Maglov are in Ukraine [applying for political asylum]. You can help us in this situation, first of all, by drawing attention to the problem of Russian refugees, especially at the international level.
— What would you wish or advise your comrades in Russia? Both those who are free and those already in prison.
I would like to wish my comrades success in the struggle. I wish a speedy release for the prisoners. You guys are such a big help. I really miss you and hope to see you soon.
— Probably somewhere in Switzerland.
No, in Russia.
Interview prepared by Ivan Ovsyannikov
Filed under interviews, leftist movements, political repression, protests, Russian society
Tagged as 2012 Russian protests, Alexei Devyatkin, Bolotnaya Square, Center "E", crackdown, Filipp Dolbunov, FSB, Ivan Ovsyannikov, Jenny Kurpen, Konstantin Lebedev, Kyiv, Leonid Razvozzhayev, May 6 Bolotnaya, Mikhail Maglov, Moscow, political asylum, political prisoners, political refugees, Putinism, Russia, Russian police state, Russian Socialist Movement, SBU, Sergei Udaltsov, Ukraine, Ukraine Migration Service, UNHCR, Yegor Letov