He grew a beard, peeled garlic: what Mikhail Abyzov remembers in the pre-trial detention center

Mikhail Abyzov spent five long years in Lefortovo and is today one of the old-timers of the legendary pre-trial detention center. Over such a long period, a lot happened in his life, including one of the significant events – a wedding behind bars.

The cells where he was sitting changed. His attitude to what was happening also changed (at the beginning he expected liberation “any minute now,” and then humility came). Most of all, he was lucky (if we can even talk about luck for the inmates of Lefortovo) with his cellmate – for many years he has been imprisoned with the ex-governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Sergei Furgal.

About what happened to him with Abyzov – in the material of the MK observer, who, being a member of the Moscow Public Monitoring Committee, visited him more than once.

You definitely won’t be surprised by the high-ranking inmates of Lefortovo. So the “check-in” of ex-Minister of the Open Government Mikhail Abyzov into the detention center in March 2019 went quite quietly. He himself seemed to perceive what was happening as a mistake and was sure that they would sort it out and let him go. It was rumored that this was due to the fact that he came to Russia under the guarantees of respected people – allegedly, Abyzov lived in Europe before his arrest. He even praised the FSB officers who detained him for doing it correctly.

At the first meeting with human rights activists (it took place while still in the temporary detention facility), Abyzov asked that the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs, Boris Titov, come to the trial. On the second (already in Lefortovo) he really hoped that lawyers would get to him as soon as possible and allow him to make calls to his loved ones. But the defender was allowed in only after a couple of weeks, and the investigator allowed the calls almost two years later.

Lefortovo affects everyone differently. It’s “sobering” for some – even the most high-ranking people with great connections after a few days of total isolation (they say this is a special technique) begin to lose hope. And someone believes until the last moment that the cell door will open with the words: “An error has occurred.” It’s difficult to say for sure how the pre-trial detention center affected Abyzov. The fact is that he seemed to be hiding his feelings (he pulled a hood over his head). One could read a lot of things on his face – bewilderment, indignation, and humility. But after two months at Lefortovo, he seemed to have become accustomed to his fate. At least already in May he demonstrated complete satisfaction with the situation. He said: “Who feels bad here? I don’t know anyone like that. Maybe at first, but then life gets better. Everything here is worthy. The employees are respectful and eager to help. Everything is great.” He then said with a serious look that in general “Lefortovo” is a four-star hotel with a plus. “Proper nutrition according to the regime. Sports twice a day: one in the exercise yard, the second in the cell. Who said there isn’t enough space here? Enough! Yoga and more can be done between beds. There is also cultural leisure – reading books and watching TV (20 channels shown).”

At that time, Abyzov was sitting in a cell with the ex-deputy chairman of the Crimean Committee for Competition Policy, Yaroslav Slivka. They prepared healthy salads together (from the products that were given to them) and even planned to write a cookbook under the comic title “Kitchen for prisoners in cramped conditions.” It must be said that both were ironic – they say that the book will be published before they are released. However, the idea of ​​the book was apparently abandoned. But they really cooked with gusto. In one of the parishes of human rights activists, Abyzov peeled garlic and onions, which you can’t really pamper yourself with in the wild because of the specific smell, but in Lefortovo you can and even need to (kills germs, increases immunity). He looked cheerful and almost cheerful.

But on our other visits, his mood was no longer so optimistic, which is probably due to the way his criminal case developed.

Four months after his arrest, Abyzov was unrecognizable. He looked like an elder and grew a beard. I remember we asked what happened then – they don’t issue razors? But Abyzov explained the decision not to shave… by “an internal desire for change.”

Soon he began to have health problems – he went to the Lefortovo medical unit to find the cause of the neurological disease, which led to complications in the musculoskeletal system (the ex-minister announced the diagnosis in court at the next election of a preventive measure). The prison doctors, he said, were not particularly helpful.

He cheered up in the spring of 2020, when his wedding was planned. In general, prisoners in this pre-trial detention center do not get married often (3-4 marriages per year). The investigator initially delayed permission for the ceremony, but then finally gave it. However, the coronavirus almost ruined everything – quarantine measures were introduced. And yet, the management of Lefortovo gave the go-ahead. But then the ceremony was almost disrupted by the court and the convoy – on the day of the wedding, Abyzov was taken from the court to the pre-trial detention center very late in the evening. The bride – flight attendant Valentina Grigorieva – and the registry office employee waited. But the ceremony was quick, the newlyweds were not even allowed to kiss – after all, quarantine.

In the summer of 2020, Abyzov was placed in the same cell with Sergei Furgal. Then human rights activists were prohibited from visiting the cells; prisoners were taken to the visiting room for a conversation. Abyzov refused to go to the members of the Public Monitoring Committee, but Furgal agreed and said a few words about his neighbor: “We have normal relations with him. I drink coffee, he drinks tea. But we often have breakfast or lunch together. One reads, the other watches TV.” In general, cellmates are changed at Lefortovo often, and no one could have imagined that Abyzov would remain with Furgal. But they didn’t complain about it, they shared with each other books that more than 200 residents of Khabarovsk sent to Furgal. And three years later, Abyzov and Furgal became the pre-trial detention center record holders for living together. Why did it happen? Perhaps because their situation is somewhat similar. Both Furgal and Abyzov had high-ranking intercessors; they initially agreed to take high positions under their guarantees. Well, then what happened happened…

Abyzov will have to spend at least another year in Lefortovo – he will probably file an appeal, its consideration will take a lot of time. Well, then the ex-Minister of the Open Government is transported to a colony similar to the one where the ex-Minister of Economy Alexey Ulyukaev was imprisoned. Or maybe even straight there – we’re talking about correctional colony No. 1 in the Tver region. Ulyukaev’s advice to Abyzov was very useful. And he, by the way, wrote a serious work on the topic of the state of the modern penitentiary system.