One is an animal-loving musician. The other, a retired engineer. What do these two Russians have in common? They are on trial for criticizing the offensive in Ukraine and face several years in prison.
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Aside from the published cases of famous anti-Kremlin opponents who have been imprisoned since the conflict began in February 2022, thousands of anonymous people are silently involved in the repressive machinery that is accelerating.
It took a year for the noose to close around Alexander Bakhtin, a 51-year-old musician and environmentalist.
In March and April 2022, he published three messages on the Russian social network VKontakte, denouncing the military operation in Ukraine, recalling civilian casualties and blaming Vladimir Putin.
In March 2023, this resident of Mytishchi, a town on the outskirts of Moscow, was suddenly arrested and remanded in custody: accused of spreading “false information” about the Russian army and facing up to 10 years in prison. Jail.
“In our neighborhood people are shocked” by his arrest, his mother, Lioudmila Bakhtina, 79, told AFP on the sidelines of a court hearing on June 6.
“He wouldn’t hurt a fly. He defends animals, he’s an ecologist, he’s helped everyone. And we’re trying to make him almost a terrorist,” she adds with tears in her eyes.
Unlike trials of well-known opponents that draw crowds, Mr Bakhtin’s trial is being held anonymously, which is in contrast to the hefty sentence he faces: Only his mother and a friend attended the hearing in early June.
As the police bring her into the courtroom in handcuffs, Ms. Bakhtina only manages to touch her son’s arm, whom she has only seen twice since his arrest.
And in these trials, which take place away from the cameras, the cruel sometimes competes with the absurd: the mother is called to the trial as a witness for the prosecution against her son.
“I signed my statement without having read it,” she regrets at the bar and is surprised to find that the text of her statement seems to be much more extensive than the content of her conversation with the investigator. The lawyer complains about “disagreements”.
A lively exchange ensued between the prosecutor and Ms. Bakhtina: “Do you think that the Russian armed forces are committing genocide against the Ukrainian population?”
– NO!
– And your son? […] How does he feel about the President (Vladimir Putin)?
– My son is a pacifist, he is against the war. And I’m against war too. You can arrest me too!” Ms. Bakhtina introduces.
When the judge asks the defendant if he would like to question the witness – his own mother – Mr Bakhtin asks in a hoarse voice: “When you were questioned on March 6, 2023, you were told that you had the right, not against her testify.” Me?” His mother yells, “No!”
The hearing is postponed to June 20 and Mr Bakhtin, who his mother says has chronic bronchitis and heart problems, remains in custody.
According to the Russian NGO OVD-Info, more than 20,000 people have been arrested in Russia for demonstrating against the conflict in Ukraine.
Several thousand of them were also prosecuted for, like Mr. Bakhtin, publishing “false information” about him or “discrediting” the military.
On the very same day that Mr. Bakhtin appeared handcuffed in Mytishchi, Anatoly Rochtchine, a retired aeronautical engineer, was tried in another Moscow suburb town, Lobnya, for “discrediting” the army.
Mr. Rochtchine, 75, is also being charged on the basis of online publications criticizing the military offensive. He faces up to five years in prison.
“These cases are becoming more numerous,” Mr Roschthin’s lawyer, Evguenia Grigorieva, told AFP.
At the start of the conflict, Mr. Rochtchine had protested in front of Lobnya City Hall with a sign on which he had written: “My country, you have gone mad.”
But most passers-by pretended not to notice. “They were scared,” he told AFP.
“If the Russians weren’t afraid to take to the streets, there wouldn’t be a war. We are responsible for it,” said Mr Roschtchine, who said he felt “guilty” about the situation in Ukraine.
He says he continues to post what he thinks on social media despite his ongoing trial. “An opponent who whispers ‘Glory to Ukraine’ to his wife is not an opponent,” he smiles.
“I want Ukrainians to know that not all Russians are cowards,” adds Mr. Roshin. His trial will resume on June 19.