TATTLE ON YOUR NEIGHBOR
by Anton Chivchalov
In the Soviet Union, squealing
[stukachestvo] was one
the chief instruments of repression. To send to jail whomever an
official wanted
proved to be very simple: it was sufficient to find a person who
would give the
necessary evidence; it was not necessary to prove anything in
those cases.
Solzhenitsyn wrote that in some cities every fourth resident
could receive the
suggestion to squeal on someone. And here, it seems, the law
enforcement
agencies have again adopted squealing as a weapon.
Two latest examples. In the city of
Stary Oskol,
Belgorod province, the local religious organization of Jehovah's
Witnesses was
liquidated allegedly for "mass distribution" of extremist
material,
but what do we see in fact? The court made a decision proceeding
from a single
incident in which a certain Sergei Ishkov stated that Jehovah's
Witnesses gave
him a Bible. While this Bible is not even included in the
Federal List of
Extremist Materials. Earlier Ishkov had come to worship services
of Jehovah's
Witnesses and displayed sincere interest in what occurred.
Subsequently it
turned out that he was recording all of the services on a
dictaphone. After
Ishkov received a Bible, his wife wrote to the police a
statement to the effect
that her husband "has fallen into a sect, and has become asocial
and
abnormal. Help save my family." Of course, the police came and
seized
ill-fated Bible. The result of the orchestrated family drama was
the
liquidation of the whole organization of those who read that
Bible.
In another situation, this time in
Belgorod itself,
Jehovah's Witnesses found themselves under a prohibition because
of a similar
situation. One gets the impression that bureaucrats work out
methods that then
they intend to use more actively. Nikita Sukhobrus, a youth of
21 years of age,
affirmed that somebody (whose name is unknown) allegedly gave
him the same
Bible and several books from the list of forbidden materials,
and the contents
of websites that are forbidden by law were discussed at services
of Jehovah's
Witnesses. At the same time there is no evidence that the
mysterious donor was
a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization; his second
claim is an
unambiguous lie. Although there is evidence that Sukhobrus is
connected to the
Orthodox church: on social media it is possible to find
photographs where he is
receive a medal from the hands of Archbishop of Belgorod and
Stary Oskol Ioann.
It is also known that at a minimum
since 2014
Sukhobrus has been an active participant in the Belgorod
organization
"Youth First Aid," which participates in various demonstrations
in
support of the government. His companion in this organization, a
certain
Androsov, is notorious for wearing a tee-shirt with the
inscription "I
hate Jehovah's Witnesses." Concurrently, Androsov is an aide to
the
Russian State Duma Deputy Mikhail Markelov, who defends
everything Orthodox and
is a member of a public agency of the Belgorod police. In both
Belgorod and
Stary Oskol, the FSB has actively tapped phone conversations of
Jehovah's
Witnesses and conducted clandestine video taping of the services
and even of
informal meetings. The union of church, FSB, and youth
organizations operates trouble-free.
Can one talk about how bureaucrats have
found a yet
more effective means of settling accounts with undesirables than
planting
compromising material on them? Since 2014 there has been a
growing campaign of
planting "extremist" materials on Jehovah's Witnesses (several
incidents every month), but the practice of ordinary, classic
squealing may
prove to be more effective and faster and cheaper than plants.
In order to
shutter an undesirable organization, it is sufficient to find a
person who
simply brings a book to the police. It is even possible to not
trouble oneself
with a search for evidence, fact-finding, or checking the truth
of testimony.
There is the book—case closed. It is especially alarming that at
the same time
use is being made of a) publications that are not at all
included in the
forbidden list of the Ministry of Justice, and b) the Bible, an
eternal book.
It seems especially strange also
against the
background of the fact that last spring the Supreme Court
refused to liquidate
the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tiumen, despite
several incidents of
distribution of "extremist" literature, not finding sufficient
basis
for such a harsh measure. At the time, the court ruled:
"Liquidation of a
legal entity . . . is not necessary and is disproportionate to
the violations
committed and the consequences they evoked." But here the same
Supreme
Court prohibits the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in
Belgorod on the
basis of such flimsy and unsubstantiated evidence.
"Christ did not write denunciations," and "Of all the apostles, only Judas was a squealer"—these were written on placards at a rally in Moscow organized by a group of Orthodox (!) believers. But the voices of common sense and Christian conscience do not waft to those offices where decisions are made. Varlam Shalamov wrote: "I am little accustomed to giving attention to conversations about informers and squealers. I am too helpless before this supreme force of nature." (tr. by PDS, posted 14 July 2016)
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