Is Journalism Worth Dying For__ Final Dispatches - Anna Politkovskaya [48]
“Where were you taken after the recording?”
“To prison in Grozny, but first to the court. They organised documents of some sort. I was in a very bad state, completely beaten up, covered in bruises, but the judge (in the Staropromyslovsky District Court) did not ask me anything, he just placed me under arrest for 10 days, to give time for my injuries to heal. After that they took me to the prison, but they wouldn’t accept me because they said I would die there and they would be held responsible. They took me that evening to a different prison which did accept me and I was there for two months.”
“Did you know that your evidence against Zakayev had been televised?”
“Yes, the prison guards told me it had been shown on all channels. Two months later I was taken back to court. There was a member of the FSB, a Chechen, there. I know him, we went to school together. He warned me, ‘Do you know why they are freeing you now? So they can kill you and blame it on Zakayev. They will say he murders people who give evidence against him. If you want to live, get out of Grozny today.’ That’s what I did.”
The British judge is very good at keeping his thoughts to himself. Judges are not expected to say much, just “Yes” or “No,” and possibly, “Mr Zakayev, the next hearing will be on such and such a date. If you are not here at 10 a.m. you will be arrested.” But the traditional British reserve was ruffled by this insight into Russian justice. The judge was moved to remark, “This is an extraordinary situation, a dramatic turn of events.” He demanded a prompt response to a number of fundamental questions. For example, why had the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office been assuring the court that witness Dushuyev was in danger from Zakayev and that this was why his name had been obliterated in the extradition papers delivered to Britain, when in fact Dushuyev was in prison and hence in the custody of those making these claims? Had the Prosecution deliberately misled the court? The judge was outraged.
Misleading the court constitutes grave professional misconduct in Britain. The system works in a way which means that Zakayev has defence lawyers and the Prosecutor-General’s Office has lawyers supporting its demand for extradition. They are appointed by the Crown Prosecution Service, which works with the Prosecutor-General’s Office. If it transpires that there has been a deliberate attempt to provoke a miscarriage of justice, which the lawyers of the Crown Prosecution Service failed to detect through being unduly trusting of their Russian colleagues, they [the CPS] will face a disciplinary investigation and penalties. This would be a severe blow to their reputations which the profession would not forgive, a blot on their entire careers. Britain does not tolerate such games.
Accordingly, the lawyers of the Crown Prosecution Service were also thrown into disarray. They found themselves obliged to defend their own reputation, which was in jeopardy. What the court was now discussing was this sample of Kremlin justice, and the fact that even in Stalin-era trials such a thing had been unheard of. The lawyers humbly asked the judge to allow them an adjournment until September 8, repeating, “These are very serious charges. We are not prepared … We have no comment to make today …” The judge however insisted on a reply “today, without fail,” and gave them just two hours to contact Moscow (probably Fridinsky). When Judge Workman heard the replies he would decide how the trial should proceed.
Two hours proved insufficient and Judge Workman relented, agreeing to give the Prosecutor-General’s Office until September 1 to provide explanations in writing, and warning that the case would resume on September 8. He added unambiguously that hearings would continue for no more than four or five days, after which he would retire to consider his verdict.
What have we just witnessed? We have tried to spill out into Europe our corrupt legal practice of fabricating cases whenever and however the state authorities decree, and we have fallen flat on our faces.
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