“An unbearable sentence”: why they gave journalist Bayazitova five years

Journalist Alexandra Bayazitova was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

You can, of course, say, “well, this is clearly better than the 14 years that the prosecutor initially requested.”

But you shouldn’t say that.

5 years is an unbearably long time for a sick woman found guilty of a non-violent crime.

Many years ago, I asked the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation about a case that he remembered not for the plot of the accusation and not for the personality of the accused, but for the personality of the defense attorney. And he told a good story about a lawyer who was a man of few words and even had a speech impediment. So, he defended a man who drank after work and started a row (no one was injured, thank God). The prosecutor asked him for three years. The wife was crying in the hall, asking the court to forgive her unlucky husband, because if they put him in jail, who will feed the family? But that’s what the lawyer did. He simply stood up, paused for a long time, and then threw his hands up and exhaled: “Three years!” A few seconds later: “Hard worker!” Every time they asked his opinion, he stood up and said the same thing: “Three years!” “Hard worker!”

This was one of the best defenses. Just three words are enough to “get it” that three years is an eternity. The court then (and one of the judges was Vyacheslav Lebedev himself) sentenced the rowdy either to a fine or to a suspended sentence.

I want, like that lawyer, to throw up my hands and shout: “Five years! To a woman! To the journalist!”

How did we even get to the point where we can hear these numbers calmly? Life expectancy in Russia has not exactly increased. Then why have prison sentences increased significantly (!), and even for non-violent crimes?

The Criminal Code article “extortion” sounded scary in the 90s, because the image of masked bandits immediately appeared, demanding money with an iron to their stomach or a sawn-off shotgun to the back of their head. Today this also happens, but extremely rarely. Journalist Bayazitova did not lay a finger on the victims; she did not even see them. Someone will notice that you can kill with a word just like with an ax. Debatable. But it is possible if we are talking about the dissemination of personal information that a person hid all his life and which destroyed his family. However, in this case there was nothing of the kind, and the victim did not talk about anything like that. Moreover, he himself asked the court not to sentence Bayazitova to a real term, he said that he accepted the apology, and that is enough. Then why, despite this, did the court impose five years?

Article 43 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states that “punishment is applied in order to restore social justice, as well as to correct the convicted person and prevent the commission of new crimes.” Has social justice been restored by this verdict? For me, it is violated in relation to Bayazitova herself. And it started at the moment when the sick woman was placed in custody for some reason.

I remember the first time I saw her in a pre-trial detention center (I was there as a member of the Moscow Public Monitoring Committee).

Her home is a small cell with four bunk beds. Then her place was upstairs (everyone else was occupied). Every time Bayazitova climbed onto the second tier of an iron bed and then slept there without restraints (that is, risking falling and breaking at any moment), without yet being convicted, this very social justice was violated.

Then the female prisoners, seeing her condition, offered her a place downstairs, but she felt that it would be bad for her to drive someone away. And only in this one act was there more decency than in the investigation’s demand to keep the journalist in a pre-trial detention center until the verdict.

Alexandra has a serious illness; being in a pre-trial detention center with her illness is essentially contraindicated. It’s stuffy here, there’s no opportunity to visit the usual doctors, eat right, etc.

In my other visit, I noted another feature of Bayazitova: she always asked not for herself (“they talk about me, they remember me”), but for others (“but how can they help her”), pointing to elderly women. Already these two actions of Bayazitova can indicate that she has definitely not lost her human appearance.

But the state prosecution and the court might not have known about Alexander’s spiritual qualities and character (although this, in theory, is considered at the trial and should be taken into account when passing a sentence). But what they knew for sure was her diagnoses, including diabetes, because there were a great many medical certificates on file.

Of course, 5 years is better than 14. In principle, very soon, when the sentence comes into force, Alexandra can apply for parole. And this request will most likely be granted. But this also lies the devilish trick of the system. Only those who have admitted their guilt can apply for parole. Bayazitova did not admit guilt. This means that she must either change her conscience or file an appeal, which, taking into account the “cosmic” speed of our justice, will not be considered tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. This is such a difficult choice.

Read also: Journalist Bayazitova was given 5 years in prison, they asked for 14

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29166 dated November 28, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Unbearable deadline