28 February 2021
Hi, this is Dimitri Zaire-Beck, Team 29’s specialist for working with our supporters!
I’m glad to be writing to you again – the last letter from Team 29 this month
Before the traditional digest from the Team, I would like to make a small digression. Six years and one day ago Boris Nemtsov was shot dead on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge. I suggest you watch Zosya Rodkevich’s film My Friend Boris Nemtsov, published by Novaya gazeta. It reveals Nemtsov not as an important politician and statesman but as a living person. I highly recommend it.
Report on crowdfunding for 2020
We have compiled a report on our fundraising for the entire year 2020. You support Team 29 and at the same time support our values and goals: freedom of information, transparency and open government. Thank you. Read the full text on the website here.
News about the case of Margarita Yudina
At the very end of last week, our lawyers, together with Margarita Yudina, sent a formal request to the Interior Ministry. We demanded information about the law enforcement officer who struck Margarita, compensation for the harm she suffered, and a second apology – this time without violations.
A few days later it turned out that the law enforcers were not going to file a complaint against the police officer (well, we shall see about that). Dinar Idrisov, a human rights activist, filed a criminal complaint. The materials of the case were to be transferred to the Investigative Committee immediately after the initial verification of the complaint. However, they did not reach the Investigative Committee but went to the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg – in other words, they never left the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A month later, the materials were returned to the 76th Police Department. No agency saw any signs of unlawful conduct in the police officer’s actions.
I would like to add that in such cases the police do not turn in ‘their own’, even if ‘their own’ brazenly violate the law, which has happened more than once. We shall continue to seek justice for Margarita Yudina and will be sending our second report on the campaign on her behalf very soon.
Our new YouTube project ‘The Team’ with Armen Aramyan and Kirill Martynov
We have new guests! This Thursday our new project ‘The Team’ is talking about modern students, the magazine DOXA and the ‘new left.’ The hero of the issue is Armen Aramyan, the editor of DOXA, a socialist and one of the inspirers of the new bionicle meme (disclaimer: not a word about bionicles or the interview). He was interviewed by Kirill Martynov, a philosopher, lecturer at the Free University, and editor of the politics section of Novaya gazeta. The Master of Ceremonies of the issue is none other than Vladimir Soloviev.
Watch the issue right now, there’s a lot to see. Check it out here!
The ‘Russia is Closing’ Podcast. The case of Admiral Kolchak
This episode of the podcast ‘Russia is Closing’ is dedicated to Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, the leader of the White Movement during the Russian Civil War.
The problem of access to the cases of people who were repressed but not rehabilitated is still real. Podcast host Maksim Zagorov, our lawyers Maksim Olenichev and Artem Kutlovsky and historian Maksim Stelmak talk about why it is not possible to get access to these criminal cases. Listen to our podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Yandex.Music, Castbox and any platform you like by following this link.
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February, which has been such an eventful month, is drawing to a close. Our next letter will be delivered to you in March. Thanks again for supporting the work of Team 29, it means a lot to us.
We’ll write in the spring!
Dmitry, Team 29
Translated by Simon Cosgrove
