Alexander Del’finov

ALEXANDER DEL’FINOV: I would like to immediately introduce myself for those who don’t know me, so they can clearly understand what I am talking about. I represent the Andrei Ryl’kov Foundation for the Promotion of a Humane Drugs Policy. You might have heard that the website of our organisation was shut down on the third of February, as requested by the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia. One project our foundation is working on is “Narcophobia.”

There is a topic that is part of our project “Narcophobia,” and it intersects with the topic of our gathering today. Taisi’ya Osipova has already been mentioned twice here, and I would like to single out one aspect which is important only in the context of my work. The situation here is complex and there are several definitions to it, but I will now complicate it even further. There is a case involving Taisi’ya Osipova, and there is a political aspect to it. It is very important to note that the drugs in this case were used to frame the activist. I do not want to assess Osipova’s civic activities. That isn’t what interests me, her political activity doesn’t matter at all. What is important is that from a legal point of view her case was fabricated, and drugs were used for this purpose.

This is not an isolated case. Drugs are one of the most widespread and convenient ways of falsifying charges against political and social activists. And others, not only political prisoners but also, for example, businessmen whose offices are occupied. We’re not going to go into this now. The case of Taisi’ya Osipova confirms what has already been said regarding the absence of justice. I would just like to say that the topic of drugs is very painful and unpleasant, and people try to not talk about it at all. It was hardly heard even at this distinguished gathering. I will say it again: there are many such cases.

I can start by recalling the case of the social activist and human rights defender Denis Matve’yev from Nizhny Novgorod. He is now in jail, his sentence lasts for six years. Drugs figure in his case. There is the case of the trade union activist Valentin Urusov from Yakutsk, to all intents and purposes in jail for organising a strike at a diamond complex. This is the real cause of his imprisonment, but he is formally some sinister drug dealer.

These “drug” cases come against a backdrop of hysteria in the media and society in relation to drugs, and only help ferment it. It is very easy to use drugs as a way to incriminate activists. Because if the very word were heard in a case, society would take a biased view, a priori negatively. “These are drug addicts. These are evil and dirty people. These are animals! These are drug addicts, these are cannibals!” This is how they speak here. But overall, these are animals and demons.

The demonisation of this issue leads to many people being “shut off” for years. You know that Taisi’ya Osipova first received ten years, then the sentence was revoked thanks to the great and mighty (Allahu Akbar!) Medvedev, he spoke somewhere. People were given six and seven years for those cases that I mentioned earlier. We feel a very important and telling case is happening in Yekaterinburg right now. A drug addict there, Evgeniy Konyshev, is now awaiting a trial on completely fabricated charges, when it’s really for criticising the foundation “A City without Drugs,” headed by Evgeniy Roizman. He did this publicly, on the TV. It was for this reason a case was fabricated and drugs thrown in. All sewn up in white thread, just like in Osipova’s case, but nothing comes together. The witnesses are nonsense. Just hellish trash, as our young people say.

From all of the discussions today, I can understand that Evgeniy Konyshev and his case fall under the definition of “prisoners of conscience.” He is there, but virtually no one cares about his fate because he is just some “dirty addict.” I don't know how many such cases there are in Russia. We have four cases on our website. But they are described on our other website, which the FSB hasn't closed yet. Osipova, Urusov, Konyshev and Matve’yev are four cases where there are concrete convictions and sentences. I think if were to dig deeper and conduct a broad investigation we will be able to find more such cases.

In regards to the work with the lists, I ask on behalf of “drug addicts of Russia” to not forget and neglect the topic of cases fabricated on drugs charges. It is a very important topic, a very easy way to compromise a political activist, above all in our country. Thank you very much.

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