Death of a Dissident - Alex Goldfarb [88]
It was a masterstroke: to turn around the governors’ fears of the Kremlin by focusing them on Primus. And it worked. The governors scratched their heads and worried about Primus in the Kremlin. They did not want to go back to the USSR.
On September 22, thirty-nine governors released a document proclaiming a new, pro-Yeltsin political movement, called Unity—Boris’s last-minute creation. They would not run for the Duma themselves, but they promised to throw their weight behind Unity’s electoral list.
One after another, more governors joined the club. Several members of Fatherland All-Russia defected to Unity. All across the country, Duma candidates from the new party were nominated, supported by regional bosses.
Sasha’s trial began in early October. The hearing was closed; Marina had to wait in the hallway. All she could think about was how to catch a glimpse of Sasha as he was led in and out of the courtroom.
The prosecution’s claim was that in 1997, in an inexplicable rage, Sasha had beaten the driver of one of his organized-crime targets.
When the victim was called to the witness stand, he said, “All of them beat me with fists and rifle butts, and then they kicked me, taking turns.”
“Wait a minute,” said the judge. “In your preliminary testimony you said that only Litvinenko beat you. When are you telling the truth, then or now?”
“Now.”
“Why did you lie then?”
“Because the investigator told me that he had orders to put Litvinenko in jail. He asked me to single him out.”
The prosecution asked for an adjournment. The hearing was postponed several times. A whispering campaign suggested that Judge Kravchenko was under tremendous pressure. The FSB wanted a guilty verdict and the harshest possible sentence of eight years.
The trial resumed on November 26. Journalists and TV cameras packed the court building. The defense made its final argument for acquittal. The judge left the courtroom to deliberate. It took him four hours to reach a verdict. Marina waited in the hallway, “all frozen inside, feeling as if all this was not real.”
Finally, the judge returned and announced his decision: “Not guilty. Free to go.”
As the guard unlocked the dock cage to let Sasha out, there was a sudden commotion at the door. A squad of armed men in camouflage and masks ran past Marina and stormed into the courtroom, pushing the guards aside.
“Step aside! FSB!” To Sasha they yelled, “You’re under arrest!”
They produced an arrest warrant, handcuffed Sasha yet again, and took him away.
As Sasha was led past her, Marina reached out to him. One of the FSB men pushed her away.
“Don’t touch her!” Sasha yelled, and in response was hit with a rifle butt, as TV cameras recorded the scene.
The masked agents brought him to a room. His investigator Barsukov appeared, with a new question.
“Where were you on May 30, 1996?”
“I don’t remember,” said Sasha.
Barsukov read out another set of charges. It was the same offense, but a different episode: on that day, during an operation against a racketeering ring in a Moscow farm produce market, he was alleged to have beaten up a suspect and to have “extorted” a can of sweet peas from one of the vendors.
He refused to answer questions.
This time they took him to Butyrka, the largest criminal prison in Moscow.
The next morning, Boris went to see Putin at the White House. He was angry. The scene of Sasha being rearrested on live TV was grotesque. Putin should never have let it happen, Boris argued. It made their team look impotent. Why did the FSB come up with new charges, trumped up at the last minute?
Putin was apologetic. He simply did not have time to monitor the case, he claimed; after all, he had a war on his hands. He explained to Boris that the new arrest was a low-level initiative at the FSB, among Sasha’s many enemies. He needed a few days to correct the situation.
On December 16