Alexei Kozlov found guilty yesterday

My article on this outrageous case in today’s edition of The Moscow News.

I was able to attend the court proceedings on Tuesday – and our correspondent, Yulia Ponomareva, was there for the verdict yesterday – and I can tell you that this case is as nightmarish as it seems. It goes beyond the personalities of Alexei Kozlov and Olga Romanova (some would argue that a wealthy realtor and his high-profile journalist wife are very dishonest and very manipulative, respectively) – it’s a warning to all of us. Once a case has reached a Moscow city criminal court, a conviction is practically inevitable, facts and arguments be damned.

If you wanted to argue that Jesus was actually a corrupt pedophile involved in the casino racket – you’d go through the Moscow criminal courts, after getting investigators, who traditionally have very strong links to judges, to initiate a criminal case for a reasonable fee. The judges themselves don’t have to be corrupt – all they have to do is maintain the status quo. No one needs to bribe them to do that.

That’s because people fear judges – and the judges want to be feared. Being feared – as opposed to respected – is a true mark of prestige around here. And yet more and more people are getting angrier and angrier about this. Even Alexei Kudrin, a strong ally of the establishment and a moderate in almost every sense, tweeted yesterday that the case against Kozlov was “unconvincing.”

And the American criminal justice system is broken too

In what kind of a sick, twisted society can a mother be convicted of “stealing education” by sending her son to the wrong school district?

I mean, I’ve known for a while that the whole “war on drugs” thing was just another tool of the class war in disguise (and you know what, Tupac has been dead for how many years now? And yet “instead of a war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me” remains just as relevant? That’s great, I guess. That’s lovely) – but I guess it’s good to know that the commidification of education is leading us down a similar, equally depressing road. At least we are consistent.

The story of Alexei Kozlov breaks my heart

I know I recently wrote that his wife is someone we should celebrate – and I stand by that – but his overall situation fills me with dread. It’s the story of a man with every piece of evidence on his side – and yet he was in prison and is most likely going back to prison. All because the feudal Moscow City court system needs to keep the balance of power in check. We all have to remember that bureaucracy is bigger than human beings. The sacred right of the bureaucrats to destroy lives and break apart families must be preserved. Otherwise, it will be just like 1917 again – and Russia doesn’t need another bloody revolution!

People in Moscow kid themselves when they argue that Kozlov’s case is special, because he’s a businessman. “I don’t have a business, so it couldn’t happen to me!” Sorry, no, it can. It can happen to anyone who has become, for any reason, “inconvenient.” Or to anyone who has the cops set upon them for any reason (there is a famous story of a taxi driver arrested after a brawl – cops falsified testimony and evidence after his family couldn’t bribe them quickly enough. It was all over the news in Russia – but the Moscow City court system prevailed. The people at the top of that system can never lose face – that’s why it prevails).

There is no real presumption of evidence within the courts. The criminal justice system presents a kind of meat-grinder, which exists solely to sustain and serve private interests – whether getting rid of a former business partner, or simply ticking a box (as in, when President Medvedev declared war on pedophilia, everyone suddenly started rounding up pedophiles – with or without evidence). It’s not tied to any principles or laws – laws themselves being contradictory and poorly written at times. The people who preside over it are mostly middle-aged women, deeply conscious of how prestigious their jobs are, and very eager to retain this prestige, which is at least partly derived from the terrorizing effect the courts have on the populace. The only saving grace of this system is the fact that it cannot sentence people to death – the moratorium on the death penalty stands.

Though “getting rid” of someone in prison is easy enough. “Unfortunate accidents” and “suicides” happen with some regularity.

I’m a fantasy book heroine, I’ve decided

Clearly, that’s why my battles are so epic all the time.

I suppose I need to get used to it at some point.

I have these moments of doubt all the time. Why didn’t I marry some banker in Connecticut? Why don’t I have a nice, three-bedroom home in a suburb? Why don’t I have brunch with mimosas on Sundays?

But then I think about it, and I understand why.

In Russia, it’s the election

Lyovka woke up early today – which was my excuse to set to work early and interview people. I’ve discovered that being a journalist/parent to an adorable, bug-eyed infant is highly convenient. People suddenly want to talk to you.

I spoke to an impoverished pensioner who said she voted for billionaire Prokhorov, and to a young law enforcement official who expressed solidarity with the Communists and Sergei Udaltsov, whom he referred to as a “righteous dude.” Those were the comments that really stood out for me. All of the people I know, including those who are voting for Vladimir Putin, are highly uncertain of the future. An old friend of mine who’s a Putin supporter told me that he’s being “realistic” about having Putin in office for the third term, and expressed disdain for the ruling United Russia party, which Putin is “ultimately too good for.” Strange times are upon us, either way you look at it.

My raging pharyngitis finally got the best of me, and I had to retreat homeward and call a doctor. A hot young doctor showed up and was horrified to discover that I was not in bed, but tending to Lyovka. “You need your rest!” He exclaimed dramatically. “You look like a corpse!”

Sigh. There was a time when hot guys didn’t say such things to me.

Snow is falling lightly on Novogireyevo now. My husband drove out to film polling stations in villages – and waved to me from a webcam. And proceeded to yell health advice from said webcam. The nanny has shown up, hearing I was in distress, and has taken Lyovka off my hands for a bit.

The lights are coming on in the khrushchyovkas. The world is changing. It’s just another day.