My name is Vladimir Perverzin. I was sentenced to 11
years in Russian prison for the crime I never commit.
This is how crime works.
Russian prison system is just instrument to manipulate people,
human rights and living condition just
unbearable. This is nonsense that cannot be in civilized country.
Like in my violent case person can disappear for two
weeks and nobody knows where he is.
I was arrested
2004. I was placed under a surveillance and I was
followed by secret agent that make me a phone call
to mobile phone and asked me to come to general
prosecuted office for 20 minutes.
So I was taken to some Police Department.
It was night interrogation without any lawyers.
I did not understand and didn't realize what I'm being
accused
for several months. I left use Yukos oil company
2 years before
my my arrest. Yukos Oil company was one of the
biggest oil company in Russia,
very well organized. Khodarkovsky was one of the main owner
of the company and general manager of this company.
It was politically motivated case because he claims that Russian
government make corruption scheme.
The goal of this process was just taking
company from the owner, say using me
of stealing crude oil. I did not
realize sense of this acquisition
because every single gram of oil and every single cents
was on the balance of the company.
I wasn't high profile employee of you because I didn't
have any shares.
I didn't believe that I was arrested.
I made a phone call to to my wife.
She
thought that we were pranking here.
I was transferred from Butiluka to Matrovska Kishna.
Matrovska Kishna. It's a prison in the centre of Moscow.
It's consists of several barracks where was kept.
Approximately 1st 10 days, was overcrowded
with terrible conditions. There was just 10 iron banks and
about 25 prisoners.
So I didn't sleep for several days.
One moment I felt something crawling on me and tickling.
I just turned out my T-shirt
and saw body license. I never seen them before,
but I was sure it was
license. Dozens. Dozens.
You cannot understand what is going on with you,
where you are. So just just like a dream by
a bad dream
I was transferred to more security cell.
I was placed together with
contract killers and gangs leaders.
You are being watched by jailers every single minute.
I was sure that every 10 or 15 minutes the
jailers look through special glazok pip hall.
I spent in Moscow jails.
2 1/2 years Everybody always moved.
So jealous just called you.
You pick up your stuff and you remove to another.
It's some kind of pressure to force me confess to
crimes which never exist.
Every court hearing special guards bring you to the court.
I was sure that I would be released.
My innocence was so obvious for everybody.
I was sentenced for stealing
13 billion U.S. dollars and for stealing
all crude oil produced by largest one of the largest
Russian oil companies.
I do understand this sounds ridiculous,
just like a nonsense, But for this nonsense I was
sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.
The first colony I was transferred
was a strict colony
in small village Milihawa. We was transferred to Vladimir Prison
and the next day we were transferred to Manila.
Transferring from prison to colony is the most
dangerous moment for every prisoners,
because the prisoners disappeared and nobody except jailers knows where
the prisoners is. My transferring
took three or four days.
Ordinary training takes about couple of hours,
but in our case 24 hours because we were placed
in staloping wagon.
Originally this carriage is for four person but we were
about 10 or 15 person in this carriage.
With our staff, they stop eating and stop drinking because
the jailers will not
let you go to the toilet.
It's common practice to to beat the
prisoners. I was beaten by rubber buttons but not very
severe.
The previous group of prisoners,
they beat Kuwait civil.
I was sent to strict
panel colony number six. Strict regime means that according to
the law only prisoners who sentence for serious crime could
be sent to this colony and who sentence
not. The first time. There is special
dress code and the prisoner gave you shoes you should
wear all year round
for several years. Jacket doesn't make any warm.
Everything was made to make prisoners feel not comfortable.
When group of prisoners arrived from the prison,
they placed to quarantine separate barrack where
the prisoners are being investigated by jailers and according to
the laws they are allowed to be kept
10 days. But the jailers have ways to to keep
them for
as much as they want.
It was the worstest condition
in this camp you can imagine There is big room,
let's say 32 Storey iron beds close to each other.
You have to sleep face to face to another man.
It was just not just toilet,
it was just hole on the floor.
It's called Parasha. You can go to the shower once
a week.
There is one shower from the cell.
Six or five prisoners should managed to wash themselves for
15 minutes.
Wash themselves and their clothes.
Most of prisoners, not most,
all of them, are dreaming
to be moved to another
building. I was
the only prisoner who spent so much time in this
barrack. In three months I was transferred
to another barracks for most
dangerous criminals.
Originally there is 2 type of camps in in Russia.
Red and black. Red colony completely managed by jailers.
There is strict regime, no telephones,
no drugs, no alcohol. But in black colony
the law is established by Criminal Code.
A safe code means just like a law for
all prisoners. Criminal Code or safe code forbid violence between
criminals.
So if you beat someone
you would be punished by prisoners in
black colony. Prisoners should follow this
code. In Black Colony there always someone in charge
reported to to criminal gangs outside.
So there is a special criminal tattoo,
some kind of label that someone belong to highest criminality
and recognized as a sieve.
There is sieve, stars, tattoo in the shoulder and to
the knees.
There is a chapter in my book about
untouchable. It's group of prisoners,
ordinary prisoners, cannot touch, cannot
shake hands, cannot sit where they sitting.
They used separate
dishes, spoons, tables and they did work like
cleaning toilet. They sent them to this group of people,
for example, for terrible crime among prisoners,
the first colony. They have several
production area. They produce uniform for jailers,
shoes for jailers and bricks.
I was keen to learn myself sewing.
Then I worked as person biking heads.
I was admitted to the
group of people produce bricks.
I woke up at 5:00 and we we did some
physical exercise.
According to the regime everyone should go to and make
morning exercise. And then we
went to the canteen, had breakfast and then we go
to the production
area where we we we did this bricks
and it was real slavery.
Unloading
trucks with cement hex. Then we
bring this hex into the machine to
make
cement we mixed and then we make some bricks.
There was some special ingredients which makes this cement more
strong.
There was some poison, definitely some of this
dust comes to our lungs.
So it's but we we didn't have any choice.
But I'm still alive and
can talk to you. So
the administration and jailers are profiting from this
production because they use it for their personal needs.
Generally.
I got for this about
20 or $30.00 per month,
but I I worked about 10 hours so
it was unbelievably hard work.
Gulahitz prison camp system which existed former Soviet Union and
a lot of people
innocent and sentenced to imprisonment.
Famous writer wrote books about the system like Solzhenitsyn,
Salamov, Yevgenia, Ginsburg for example.
Common practice in gulag system,
a lot of people died from hunger,
the keystone of the gulag and
modern prison system in Russia.
Prisoner is not a human.
The most important feature of gulag system that innocent
people were imprisoned.
When you are imprisoned, you
realize that the jailers can do whatever they
want. It's usual and common practice to torture prisoners and
force them to
confess to crimes they didn't commit.
They knew
exactly. If I saw someone
being beaten by jailers I would make a complaint through
my lawyer.
So that that is why
they keep eyes on me and never did it.
Just when I was near I was punished.
1 jailers found some kind of knife,
not really a knife. You know when you buy some
stuff in the shop you have to have something to
cut
and I was
immediately placed to show. So it's
for punishment. Small cells iron but fixed to the bowl.
There is some small table and small iron bench fixed
to the floor so narrow that you cannot sit comfortable.
And I am sure that the width of this
bench was calculated by someone
in jailer's institute system just to make
person not comfortable to sit
but not fall down. I
hear some some strange noise
and I saw rats and they are coming from where
they are coming from the whole for toilet.
People must put something to close this hole in the
floor
to prevent rats coming out.
When you come to this place,
there was a special special
suit on your back. They
placed big letters, big white letters,
Chazov. And there is special
special group of jailers who is responsible for guarding colony
from outside
to try to escape from prisons.
I think it's impossible. I know one guy
personally who was trying to escape from the colony from
Milihawa.
And this guy was sentenced
24 years for for murder and for robbery.
During night he managed to escape.
He was catch by jailers
quickly, but he was free
maybe 15 minutes. I saw him from the distance.
He was beaten, placed
in shazoo. They didn't make him
additional years for escape attempt.
They keep on silence to save their reputation.
Geralds can recognize you as original by later very easily,
like in case they gave him
suit smaller in several size.
He was recognized as regional by later for just a
button.
But if you have small prison jacket,
you cannot do it in other way.
Who is responsible for this violation?
This violation? Let other jailers put him in shazoo.
It's completely their responsibility. They pressed him
every minute. Russian prison have much less rights.
You cannot
sue the jailers. Extremely rare
cases where you can initiate
trial against jailers because in Russia they have much more
instrument to influence
on prisoners. US is more
free society much more than
Russia.
When they come to another
colony
with officially more easy
regime. Vladimir. It's colony general regime
toughest day during
my imprisonment they make me
violator of regime. I didn't agree and I
sent the complaint to the court.
I was placed in more
isolated
Barack and they tried to to press me.
I start writing complaints for administration colony and when I
sent my
complaints the jailers
stop allowing other prisoners to sleep.
And the other prisoners came to me
and ask you place own interest higher than our
interest. So because of you most of the
prisoners from our barracks suffered.
So what? What should I do?
There is
way to to go to another colony or another barrack.
So I knew that the only way I just
had intention to just injured myself
and go to the hospital.
Maybe five or four other prisoners
jumped on me and there
was some kind of a little fight between US
and but anyway I managed to to cut myself.
Not not
severe as I planned, but
I I remember this moment very well.
I cried freedom to political prisoners.
Thanks to this accident, I was free because jailers scared
to deal with me.
They knew that you can
did something serious and then they sent me to Pakrov.
When I came to this colony,
the deputy came to me and told me
look, how are you going to
to stay with us? Are you going to complain
or what do you want?
He scared me and he
didn't want to have problems
with
injured and with scandal with other lawyers and etc.
So we made some kind of agreement.
I stopped complaining and he
didn't
press on me.
My sentence was reduced. I didn't believe
that I could be released
my.
Terms come to the end suddenly for me.
Every prisoners are released about 10:00.
My my son, my wife,
my friends
were supposed to come by 10:00 to the colony
and I was going to make some kind of farewell
party to other prisoners.
It's a Criminal Code tradition.
So I bought some tea,
some sweets in the shop.
It's a real celebration. But I was woken up before
general wake up. They gave me my belongings.
I was released about 6:00 before other prisoners wake up.
Because they are scared. They scared
press press conference. When you released,
they gave you some certificate of release,
some money from your personal account.
I received everything, every documents,
all my stuff, money, all documents
and came out from the prison.
I was really scared.
There is one car standing
near the exit from the colony
and some
unknown people standing. From my
previous experience, I knew they can do whatever they want.
They can kill me and nobody will find my
body. They drive me to Vladimir
bus station. I get out of the car.
I thought, what should I do?
But I have some money from my account,
1000 Rubles, and I went to the cafe
rail in the bus station,
bought ice cream, ice cream
and coffee.
My relatives was thinking that I will be relieved
about 10:00. They were on the way from Moscow
in private car, and I took one taxi
driver and asked him to make a phone call
to my wife. I was surprised to remember that number
because it wasn't so
easy. And I make a phone call,
asked them that I'm on the way.
It was like a dream.
We drink champagne, We burned my belongings,
my suit. It's, it's tradition.
And we came to to home.
Oh, I was lucky. And then I was just,
you know, you know, enjoying just simple things.
I was sitting on the
on the chair, laying on the sofa.
I enjoy every moment in freedom
before prison. I didn't pay any attention
attention to just wearing comfortable shoes for example.
And you can stay on a hot shower
as long as you want
some some small things. I don't feel
angry. I want to be apologized.
I don't want any revenge,
but I want official acquisition.
Number of politically prisoners increased
tremendously. I was released in
2012 and I was almost the only one.
But now a lot of people sentenced for nothing.
Every political prisoners is in danger.
Vladimir Carmuzar, he's in danger.
It's terrible things. What happened to Alexei Navalny?
He was murdered
by jailers,
the first colony in our need.
It was held. It was Pakrov.
Then he was transferred to
and then he was transferred to
to harp
where he was murdered. I was in shock,
but I wasn't surprised. Vladimir Putin trying to threaten all
his opponents.
Navalny was isolated from other prisoners and the jailers keep
eyes on him 24 hours every jailers had video register
and definitely something happened. But authorities trying to hide
where all these records why don't
publish these records. It's terrible when
so obvious innocent people
are in prison. Terrible that we coming back to the
gulag times.
I would prefer my book wouldn't be topical at the
moment because
my personal story is nothing to
compare to
another stories. My book is called The Prisoner.
This is my personal experience I would like to share
with everybody to understand
whom they are dealing with.
It's a story of personal,
ordinary men like me, so it happens to anyone
in Russia.