Report of my arrest
Diana lives in Saint-Petersburg. Since the 24th of February – when Putin started war against Ukraine – she has demonstrated against war and for peace. She stands up against the Russian regime risking her own freedom and her own physical integrity. On the 27th of February she got arrested by the police. For TEMA she wrote down a diary of her arrest to share what is going on in Russia right now. While she continues to demonstrate, she runs the risk of being arrested again.
Editor’s note: This article was sent to TEMA by one of our readers and was published after very little editing to keep it as close to the original as possible.
My name is Diana and I’m from Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
I wanted to speak out about the situation in my city after Russia has sent their troops to Ukraine.
It happened on 24th of February.
I woke up to the crazy news. My Instagram was full of posts from Russian people who were (well, still are) overwhelmed about what our government has done. Everyone (at least from my followings) disagrees with the government actions. We are scared, ashamed and confused. We didn’t choose our government either. The elections have been messed up for many years and lots of terrible things have been happening in Russia for a long time. People just really don’t know what to do about it.
But this was the last drop.
Lots of people have relatives in Ukraine. It is our friend country.
We can’t stand such violence against our friends.
© Diana
24-02-2022
I went to a demonstration on the 24th of February against the war in Ukraine. People want peace! We demand Peace!
From the beginning on, our meeting place was surrounded by police. Together we shouted our opinion. Some had posters saying “no war”. They better had not because each person with a poster got arrested straight away. If you were one of the firsts shouting you got caught, if you had something written, you got caught. At some point, police started to arrest pretty much everyone. Out of 2000 people who went to the demonstration, more than 400 got arrested. Luckily, my friends and I managed to avoid it this time. The police behaved violently. They even caught grandmothers and grandfathers. Even those who survived World War II. It is difficult to witness.
After the first day, we continued reading all the news. Straight from waking up till falling asleep. We are shaking. It is hard to handle.
We wanted to have an influence somehow, do something. Information of an organised demonstration on February 27th was found.
We decided to print some posters of agitation to go to this demonstration and for people who don’t know what’s happening to find out about the situation. Our main TV channels don’t broadcast real news. They lie to people.
Well, agitation is illegal in our country. You can get arrested for this.
We were scared, hid from the street cameras and put our posters in the main streets of Saint-Petersburg.
It went well. I was suffocating from fear till the day of the demonstration. I’ve already seen how police behave, how easy they can put you in jail.
Also to mention, each evening people gather together to state against war. Numerous arrests continued to take place.
27-02-2022
4 pm
On the 27th of February, I and my friend Anya went to the demonstration against the war in Ukraine at 16:00. From the beginning there were lots of arrests, some of them brutal. Since this time we had coordination, we went like a parade through the city. A huge number of police officers tried to cut our column, surrounded us in order to separate us, arrested people and blocked the streets.
A few times, we literally thought that we get caught but we only ended up in the police bus at 19:52, together with 53 people.
7:52 pm
We just couldn’t run away and the police were attacking.
The police didn’t follow the law procedure properly. They didn’t say their names or why we were arrested. We tried to find out towards which police department we were heading, they only gave us the area. It appeared to be outside of the city. I guess all the other departments were already full of arrested people.
Then we spent three hours on the police bus, waiting for the registration. Girls went inside first. They took away our phones and belongings and the right to call someone. After, they took our passports and made protocols for the court. It was written that we broke the law about coronavirus regulations (being in the crowd at the demonstration). It’s a basic prosecution for such cases. The government tries to decrease the number of demonstrators by using this punishment, which is truly ridiculous.
The time of the trial was set for 10 am on the 28th of February. Without any explanation, we were left at the police department till the trial.
© Diana
28-02-2022
During this time all the boys spent 40 minutes outside (it’s winter and it’s cold) then they were put in the basement for almost six hours.
We weren’t provided with food or water till 1 am, when relatives of arrested people sent some stuff.
At some point, my friend Anya was told to take her belongings and was taken away together with some other girls. I was worried. No one explained anything.
4 am
At 4 am I was taken away, too. I tried to ask where they would bring me, but only at the car the police officer replied that we were driving to another town since the current police department was overcrowded.
Luckily, I met Anya there!! I tried to check whether the police took my passport, but they refused to answer again. I noticed it in the pile.
Me and 16 other girls spent the night on the floor in the cold room with no heating. We managed to sleep for maybe 1,5 hours. It was extremely cold.
Ironically, more than half of the police officers didn’t wear coronavirus masks.
All the arrested people did.
All the food from relatives was left in the previous department.
10 am
At 10 am the documents of half of our group were prepared and they left for court.
We waited for three more hours. Then police finally gave back our phones and belongings. We tried to find some information on how to behave during the trial. We knew that we wouldn’t have lawyers or any defense.
At this point my friends came to us. They were able to come inside and hand over coffee and some food. Besides that, we hardly ate anything in 24hours. We were quite anxious so we also didn’t want to.
2:45 pm
At 2:45 pm we were finally headed to the court. We were really scared.
I was the first to come to court. It was me, the secretary and the judge.
I introduced myself according to the information on my passport and the judge read my prosecution and asked for comments. I denied being guilty but refused to speak more according to the constitution of RF (no one is required to testify against oneself). It was the best thing to do since I was alone during the trial and we didn’t know the consequences any word could have. Then I was charged with a fine and set free.
5 pm
Everyone got the same sentence. And all were set free at 5 pm.
All in all, we were under custody for 21 hours.
I have to say that we were quite lucky that the police didn’t beat us at least. There are lots of stories about the police being violent against arrested people. Our phones were taken away, but we weren’t forced to unlock them.
Around 6500 people were arrested throughout Russia during these 5 days.
For the record, my actions of speaking out were considered administrative offenses. I can get three of them, each time the fine rises. After that, according to the law, I’m going to be sentenced to prison.
And actually, all the information on my social media channel can lead to an arrest, too. If anyone from the police looks through them and they see my posts, they can take them as an agitation or lie. It’s a criminal offense. I can get imprisoned. And it’s truly possible in my case. I was in court, they have all my information and my address. I feel anxious that the police could come to my apartment with a search warrant because of what I’m posting. But this can not stop me from speaking out.
Lots of my friends are trying to find a way to move away from Russia. We feel a huge impact from sanctions against Russia. The country is collapsing.
I’m afraid that it’s gonna be impossible to get visas or cross the borders though. Some of the consulates are already closed. The money exchange rate is crazy.
This mess is so hard to handle. I can’t think of any future right now..