By Will Englund, Published: January 11

Taisiya Osipova

SMOLENSK, Russia — As opposition leaders wait to see how Russian authorities intend to handle continuing political protests in Moscow, a criminal case here, 250 miles to the west, suggests that tough measures are part of the equation.

The wife of a radical organizer was sentenced late last month to 10 years in prison for the alleged possession of half an ounce of heroin, a move that her supporters say is aimed at intimidating and dividing the Kremlin’s political foes.

The conviction and harsh sentence for Taisia Osipova follow a trial that was marked by dubious testimony and the exclusion of exculpatory evidence. She and her allies argue that her arrest was part of an attempt to target her husband for his political activity — and now a key prosecution witness has come forward to corroborate that charge.

Osipova is an unlikely heroine. A 26-year-old diabetic without much education, she generously salts her conversations with profanity and, as a member of the fringe Bolshevik National Party, once walked up to the governor of the Smolensk region and struck him in the face with a bouquet of carnations.

She gave up such activism when her daughter was born six years ago, and she’s not part of the big-city, middle-class cohort that has turned out recently for demonstrations. Yet some of the young stars of the new political movement — as well as the members of a guerrilla art collaborative and a famous rock singer — have rallied to her side. Far from keeping their distance from her, they are demanding her release.

“She’s in jail as a hostage,” said Zoya Svetova, who writes about crime and civil rights for the crusading journal New Times in Moscow. “This is a political prosecution.”

An added dimension

The case against Osipova began more than a year ago. Investigators obtained a warrant to tap her phone on the grounds that her husband, Sergei Fomchenkov, was sending money from Moscow to pay for illegal party work in Smolensk, according to a copy of the warrant provided by Fomchenkov.

When she was arrested in November 2010, he says, police told her they’d let her go if she could persuade him to return to Smolensk. This is typical of a system that also relies on arresting businessmen to force them to pay bribes, and an example of the official lawlessness that is one of the chief complaints of the political opposition.

But a criminal case that began as an investigation of a small radical group — which now calls itself Other Russia — took on an added dimension as political protests attracted thousands after the Dec. 4 parliamentary elections. Osipova was sentenced Dec. 30.

“People can’t understand such cruel, unfounded treatment,” said Osipova’s attorney, Natalia Shaposhnikova. “And now everybody thinks — it could happen to me.”

Svetlana Sidorkina, a human rights lawyer in Moscow who also worked on Osipova’s case, thinks the intimidation can be effective. “People here remember 1937, they can be scared,” she said, referring to the worst year of Joseph Stalin’s purges.

“They gave her such a harsh sentence to show the people who came out on the streets that they mean nothing,” said Fomchenkov, who has remained in Moscow and continues his work for the un-registered party. “The authorities can do whatever they want. They spit in the faces of the people.”

Up to a point, he concedes, the tactic may succeed in scaring off potential protesters. “But people,” he said, “get tired of fear.”

In fact, argues journalist Svetova, the eruptions of the past month show that many thousands of Russians have already gotten past fear. “Even people who would have nothing to do with Other Russia support” Osipova, she said. “Nobody’s intimidated, and nobody’s afraid.”

‘They were dishonest’

Osipova lived with her daughter, Katrina — born in 2005 and named after the American hurricane — in a white cement-block house halfway up a steep hill on the right bank of the Dnieper River. Her husband, wary of the police, had left for Moscow in 2009.

Vor and Katrina

Investigators claimed to have found heroin while searching her house, which they did after three witnesses, all from Kremlin-related youth groups, allegedly saw her dealing drugs on the street.

One of them, Olga Kazakova, says she was summoned by a Young Guard leader and asked to act as a witness for a sting the police were setting up — a typical Russian practice. Investigators from the anti-extremism unit drove her to Osipova’s neighborhood, where at 9 p.m. one night, she says, she saw the transaction take place — from a distance of 200 to 300 yards, along a winding, dark, steep street. Cellphone records place Kazakova in another part of the city at that hour. But to this day she insists she saw the deal go down.

At the time, Kazakova thought this was a straightforward case about drugs, and she thought she was doing her duty as a citizen. But now she understands that it was about politics and that Osipova was ensnared as a way of getting at her husband.

“I feel very offended,” said the former Young Guard member. “They were dishonest. If I had known in advance that it was designed to put her husband in prison, I would hardly have taken part in this operation.”

Osipova’s conviction is under appeal, and Russian law prohibits prosecutors and investigators from making public comments.

Mushrooming support

Although Smolensk, like most of Russia’s smaller cities, doesn’t have many local news organizations, the Internet has started to pay attention to Osipova’s case. A Web site champions her cause. YouTube videos, some of them obscene, call for her release. Dozens of well-known figures, including the anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny, have lined up to back her.

“Guys, wake up,” Yevgenia Chirikova, who organized an effort to save the Khimki Forest near Moscow, wrote in her blog after visiting Smolensk. Invoking the Soviet gulag, or system of prison camps, she added: “The archipelago is not somewhere in the distant past, it is quite near. It is in the callousness of prosecutors and judges, it is in our indifference. Who will be next?”

In Moscow on Tuesday, five people were detained after a series of one-person demonstrations were held at subway stations in support of Osipova, the Interfax news agency reported. Russian law permits one person to demonstrate without obtaining a permit beforehand.

Osipova is in ill health. Svetova calls her a political prisoner. By all accounts, she is angry rather than demoralized.

The authorities threatened to take Katrina away from Fomchenkov but backed down in the face of negative publicity. The 6-year-old now spends half her time in Moscow with her father and half with his sister in Smolensk.

“They are ready to go to jail for their ideas,” Mikhail Yefimkin, a 25-year-old reporter who has written about the case for a weekly supplement, said of Osipova and her husband. “It’s worth admiring.”


Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/far-from-moscow-a-harsh-sentence-and-political-overtones/2012/01/09/gIQAoVkTpP_story_1.html

2012/01/03 7th Berlin Biennale: Newsletter

Political Prisoner Taisiya Osipova

ANOTHER FRIEND OF VOINA SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS OF PRISON

On December 29th, 2011, after having waited 13 months in prison in Smolensk expecting a sentence, Taisiya Osipova, a 27 years old opposition activist, was made to wait another 12 hours in the court building. Then she was sentenced – to 10 years of prison.
 
Taisiya Osipova is a political activist of the oppositional party “Other Russia” and the wife of Sergey Fomchenkov, a member of the executive committee of “Other Russia”. They have a five-year old daughter, Katrina.
 
According to reliable sources, the criminal case of Taisiya Osipova has been trumped up and does not contain objective evidence. The sentence was read in the absence of the media and the public, a practice completely contrary to the Russian rule of open trials.
 
Taisiya Osipova was arrested in November 2010 in Smolensk, after the police broke into her house and supposedly discovered suspicious money and five parcels with white powder.
 
Normally, such police break-ins require the presence of neutral witnesses. In this case, the police seems to have selected the witnesses beforehand, making a planting of the evidence possible.
 
Members of the police force openly expressed towards Taisiya Osipova that they were mainly interested in her husband Sergei Fomchenkov. She was given the prospect of avoiding criminal punishment if she would cooperate.
 
Many Human Rights organizations, like the Committee for the Civil Rights and for Human Rights in the Smolensk region, the Committee for Children’s Rights of the Smolensk region, the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia and others, tried to protect Taisiya Osipova by stressing that neither the public nor the prosecutor’s office nor the Commissioner can reliably prove Osipova’s involvement in drug trafficking.
 
The whole charge is based on the testimonies of the witnesses of the break-in. These witnesses are classified as “top secret” and did not appear in court, making it impossible for the defense to disprove their allegations. In addition, the court under Judge Dvoryanchikov ignored a number of proven inconsistencies in the case.
 
Since Taisiya is suffering from a number of serious diseases, like pancreatitis and diabetes, the overly hard sentence means death for her. There was no initiative to transfer her to a prison hospital or to give her a normal medical examination.
 
In addition to the above charges, both Taisia Osipova and her husband Sergei Fomchenkov are being investigated with the aim to remove their parental rights over their daughter Katrina. This removal of parental rights has no legitimate reason and should be perceived as way to put pressure on Fomchenkov in connection with his political activities.
 
Before the trial of December 29th, there have been attempts from human rights organisations all over the world to interfere with the case. Defense attorney Svetlana Sidorkina’s complaint regarding the case of Taisiya Osipova has been accepted by European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The complaint was filed under application number 41366/11 and has been classified as urgent.
 
The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) in Geneva has demanded a prompt medical examination and treatment for Taisiya Osipova, as well as her release in the absence of valid legal charges.
 
As it turns out now, none of these appeals did help.
 
Further information:
http://en.free-voina.org/post/14763633893

On November 23, 2010 members of the Smolensk CPE (Center to Combat Extrimism) arrested a wife of Sergey Fomchenkov, Taisiya Osipova, who lives there with their five-year daughter Katrina. Sergei Fomchenkov is a member of the executive committee of the newly formed party “Other Russia”. He is responsible for preparing the documents for the registration of the party and for their submission to the Justice Ministry.

Taisiya Osipova is at the Smolensk court

Arrest

Operatives broke into a private home of Taisia. During the search, in a chest with child’s belongings they supposedly discover the “5 parcels with gray-white matter and a labeled 500-ruble note”. The witnesses of the search, who were brought by the operatives, did not interfere in the search, thus allowing to implement a planned provocation. The witnesses were probably not random, but specially selected safe people. Operatives openly told Osipova that what really interests them is Sergei Fomchenkov, while stressing that if Osipova will be “compliant” than she will avoid criminal punishment, but otherwise, they said, “your daughter will grow up without you “. In addition, the same day another search took place in the house of Fomchenkov’s mother.

The criminal case was filed on October 16, 2010 under Article 228 of the Criminal Code, with prison term from 5 to 12 years. The lead case investigators of the Center is to Combat Extremism are from Smolensk, however this case is accompanied by members of the same Centre from Moscow. The initiation of proceedings was made possible a witness testament. The name of the witness is being kept secret.

According to the Committee for the Civil Rights Commissioner for Human Rights in the Smolensk region, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Smolensk region, the Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, the Prosecutor of the Smolensk region:
“As to the” information “, which initiated the prosecution of this woman, unfortunately neither the public nor the prosecutor’s office nor the Commissioner can reliably determine Osipova’s involvement in drug trafficking. The charge is based solely on intelligence and legal proceedings of the “top secret” witnesses. It is extremely difficult to defend against the charges, which were built on the testimony of such persons. The names of informers and information about their identity are not disclosed, but the investigative and legal actions are carried out with them. It is impossible for a defense attorney to prove that the defendant has never spoken with this citizen, never met him. On the other hand, “secret” informants may be “useful” for tampering with evidence. For law enforcement officers who wish to implement the illegal actions, it is enough to receive the implicating information from the “right” witness. It is very likely that this is the case with Osipova’s arrest.”

Action in support of political prisoner Taisiya Osipova

Hypoglycemia

Taisia suffers from pancreatitis and diabetes. On the night of December 17 she suffered a bout of hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is a condition close to a coma that develops in patients with diabetes with a sharp drop in blood sugar levels, characterized by the development of seizures resembling epileptic seizures. Under normal conditions patients with hypoglycemia are admitted to hospital immediately. Taisiya continued to be in an ordinary cell of the Smolensk prison. Medical personnel in the prison are there only from 09:00 to 18:00.”There is still no possibility for normal treatment for Taisia. In addition to expired pills that lower blood sugar levels, which were brought by the prison nurse at her own risk, no attempts were made to even examine Taisia”- said Sergey Fomchenko.

Relatives and friends of Taisia have every reason to fear for her life. We remember the horrible and tragic death of Sergei Magnitsky, who was tortured in prison for refusing to deal with the investigation. We have every reason to believe that in the case of Taisia ​​Osipova the same scenario is possible. But we are confident in our power to prevent the next murder.

After the case went public, the expired pills for Taisia were replaced with the pills with valid expiration date. Also, her family was allowed to purchase a portable apparatus to measure glucose levels in the blood. But Taisia is still under pressure. She is being transferred from cell to cell: in five days, she changed three chambers.

Taisia ​​has suffered several more bouts of acute hypoglycemia, but there is no initiative to transfer her to a prison hospital or to give her a normal medical examination. Instead the authorities forced Taisia to sign a paper that claims that the conditions of detention are fair.

The investigator Ivanov SA, meanwhile, reported that after pretrial investigation stage the Taisia will be charged with an article 3.228 of the Criminal Court. This part implies a punishement from 8 to 20 years in prison.

Katrina

Leo the Fucknut, the President of VOINA; Katrina, the daughter of Taisiya Osipova; Vor and Kasper. Photo of Vladimir Telegin from the project “Children of prisoners of Russia”

In addition to the above charges, both Taisia Osipova and her husband Sergei Fomchenkov are being investigated by the officials with the aim to remove their parental rights over their daughter, Katrina. The removal of parental rights has no legitimate reason, and should be perceived as way to put pressure on Fomchenkov in connection to his political and civil activities.

On December 27, 2011 at 10:00 in the city of Smolensk, Zadneprovski court a defense hearing will take place in the criminal case of an opposition activist and political prisoner Taisia ​​Osipova.

VOINA asks you to attend the last hearing of the criminal case and to distribute information about the criminal case against Taisiya ​​Osipova!

Your desire and ability to speak, write and display information about the court hearing of the case Taisia ​​Osipova are more important than ever!

Accreditation for the meeting:
Leninsky District Court in the city of Smolensk
214 001, Smolensk;
Gagarin Avenue, 46
tel. (4812) 20-21-11, 20-21-54

Support site for Taisia ​​Osipova: www.spasem.org

Political prisoner Taisiya Osipova

Dear colleagues and journalists!

On December 27, 2011 at 10:00 in the city of Smolensk, Zadneprovski court a defense hearing will take place in the criminal case of an opposition activist and political prisoner Taisiya ​​Osipova.

We ask you to attend the last hearing of the criminal case.

Read More

July 31st, 2011 — Activist Ilguiz Latypov holds a placard supporting Taisiya Osipova in front of the Russian Consulate in Toronto, as part of Strategy-31 protests.

On July 25th, the World Organization Against Torture released a request for urgent intervention in the case of Russian activist and political prisoner Taisiya Osipova.

The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in the Russian Federation.

Read More

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty reports:

A motley band of bearded and unkempt activists from the unregistered Other Russia party have become the latest addition to Russia’s offbeat opposition protest scene.

Since July 17, they have attempted every day to hold a sit-in protest at Solovetsky Stone, a monument to victims of the Soviet secret services outside the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) central Moscow headquarters.

The protest has been forcefully dispersed every time.

Read More

Today in Moscow activists began a sitting strike demanding to release the opposition activist and political prisoner Taisiya Osipova. The strike is taking place near the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to victims of political repression. The protest will be held continuously, 24 hours a day, until Taisiya’s verdict which is scheduled for the last decade of July.

So far, 6 activists have been roughly apprehended by the police, who dragged them along the ground. Police officers claimed that the activists had “illegally entered the park” (a small area of land surrounding the monument). The activists weren’t displaying any flags or banners or chanting any slogans.

The brutal dispersal of the strike was captured in photos by Ilya Varlamov: link.

The strike was organized by the opposition party The Other Russia, which produced the following statement:

Read More

Voina’s Oleg Vorotnikov reports:

The German TV network ZDF has obtained accreditation for the July 8th court hearing. However, the crew informed me today that they were prohibited from filming or photographing during the hearing by judge Dvoryanchikov.

We also have news from Strasbourg:

Defense attorney Svetlana Sidorkina’s complaint of July 6th regarding the case of Taisiya Osipova has been accepted by European Court of Human Rights. The complaint was filed under application number 41366/11.

The complaint has been classified as urgent according to the Court’s urgency policy: Urgent  applications (in particular risk to life or health of the applicant, other circumstances linked to the personal or  family situation of the applicant, particularly where the well-being of a child is at issue, application of Rule 39 of the Rules of Court).

As reported by our observer in Smolensk:

Today (July 7th), the day before a scheduled court hearing on Taisiya Osipova’s case, Taisiya was taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation. This was done in accordance with Leninskiy district court’s June 16th ruling in the civil suit case against the jail administration.

The defendant’s attorney Svetlana Sidorkina was denied access to her client at the hospital, which makes it impossible for the defense to prepare for Taisiya’s testimony at the upcoming July 8th hearing. Because of this, Sidorkina intends to move to adjourn the hearing. Judge Dvoryanchikov has been notified and has expressed his consent.

For now, the hearing is scheduled for 2:30 PM, July 8th. As the defense makes the motion, the hearing will likely be adjourned to a later date.