Description of the "UNA-UNSO case"
Criminal case No. 40317 was initiated in 2000 on the fact of participation of members of the UNA-UNSO organization banned in Russia (“Ukrainian National Assembly - Ukrainian People's Self-Defense”) in hostilities on the side of Chechen separatists in 1994-1996. The case was suspended in May 2000, after which it was resumed in April 2010 by the Investigative Department of the RF Investigative Committee for the Chechen Republic. On December 18, 2013, the case was transferred to the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the North Caucasus Federal District.
In March 2014, after the outbreak of the crisis in Crimea, the investigation of the case was intensified - Alexander Malofeev, a former member of the UNA-UNSO who participated in the First Chechen War on the side of the separatists, began to give increasingly detailed testimony. At that time, repeatedly convicted for theft, robbery and car theft, Malofeev was in prison in Russia, serving a sentence by the Novosibirsk Regional Court of December 17, 2009, which sentenced him to 23 years in prison in a strict regime colony on charges robbery and murder of two people. It is important to note that Malofeev was seriously ill at the time of his testimony: he was diagnosed with HIV infection in the stage of secondary diseases (stage IV), hepatitis C and pulmonary tuberculosis, which obviously makes it relatively easy to obtain confessions to other crimes.
In particular, on March 4, 2014, Malofeev testified that Arseniy Yatsenyuk, appointed shortly before to the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine, allegedly participated in the battles in Grozny in December 1994 and January 1995. In addition to Yatsenyuk, in the testimony of Malofeev, brothers Oleg and Andrey Tyagniboki from the Svoboda party, Dmitry Yarosh from the Right Sector banned in Russia, his associates Igor Mazur and Alexander Muzychko, leader of the Brotherhood party Dmitro Korchinsky, and other Ukrainian nationalists. A significant part of the mentioned persons had never previously been associated with the war in Chechnya, there is no evidence of their participation in the conflict - except for the testimony of Malofeev (and later - and other persons in places of deprivation of liberty on the territory of the Russian Federation). On March 7, 2014, on the basis of these testimonies, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation put Muzychko on the wanted list, on March 14 - Yarosh, Mazur, the Tyagnibokov brothers, Korchinsky and other defendants in the case.
In September 2015, Alexander Malofeev, on charges of murdering Russian servicemen, was sentenced in a special manner (presumably by the Shatoisky District Court of the Chechen Republic) to 24 years and 6 months in a strict regime colony, taking into account the previously unserved term. The defense of other defendants in the case and the Memorial Human Rights Center do not have a copy of the verdict at their disposal and cannot judge its content.
Description of the case of Karpyuk and Klykh
Cases No. 68144 and then No. 84003 were sequentially separated from the main case. Two Ukrainian citizens became defendants in the latter: Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh (on August 8, 2015, he was detained on the territory of Russia in the city of Orel, where he went to a girl whom he had previously met in Crimea).
According to the Ukrainian media, on March 15, 2014, at a meeting of the leadership of the Right Sector near Kyiv, which was attended by Nikolai Karpyuk, the former head of the Kyiv branch of the organization, Vyacheslav Fursa, said that he had access to Vladimir Putin's advisers, and offered to meet with them to discuss the upcoming referendum in Crimea on the independence of the peninsula.
On March 17, 2015, Mykola Karpyuk, together with Fursa and his driver, crossed the border of the Chernihiv region of Ukraine and the Bryansk region of Russia, after which all three were detained by the FSB, while Fursa and his driver were released after 15 days, and Karpyuk was taken into custody on March 21 2014. According to the leaders of the "Right Sector" banned in Russia, the detention of Nikolai Karpyuk and his trip to Russia in general were the result of a special operation by the FSB.
Karpyuk's name appears in the testimony of Alexander Malofeev for the first time on March 18, the day after Karpyuk was detained by the FSB. During this interrogation, Malofeev “remembered” that in December 1994, Karpyuk, together with Korchinsky, met the UNA-UNSO detachment at the Georgian airport and helped them move to Chechnya. The protocol of this interrogation of Malofeev says that “in early January 1995, Karpyuk participated in battles against federal forces in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny”, and also participated in the torture of captured soldiers.
Nikolay Karpyuk was charged with committing crimes under Part 1 Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Creation of a stable armed group (gang) for the purpose of attacking citizens and organizations, as well as leadership of such a group (gang)"), p.p. "c", "h", "n" art. 102("Deliberate murder of two or more persons in connection with the performance of their official duty, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy"), Part 2 Art. 15, p.p. "c", "h", "n" art. 102 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR ("Attempt to deliberately kill two or more persons in connection with the performance of their official duty, committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons"). According to the investigation, in 1994-2014, until his detention in Russia, he participated in the creation and leadership of the "stable armed group (gang)" Viking "", formed from Ukrainian nationalists who fought on the side of the Chechen separatists. The indictment alleges that this armed group (gang) is responsible for the death of 30 and the wounding of 13 Russian servicemen of the 131st separate motorized rifle brigade, 81st and 276th motorized rifle regiments during the fighting in the city of Grozny from December 31, 1994 to January 2, 1995. In addition to this, supposedly “in the period from March 1999 to May 2000, Karpyuk N.A. together with members of the gang from among the members of UNA-UNSO Klykh S.R., Mazur I.P., Muzychko A.I., Bobrovich V.O. and others, repeatedly arrived on the territory of the Chechen Republic, where in a camp located near the settlement. Vvedensky district of the Chechen Republic, under the command of field commander Raduev S.B., he studied the tactics of warfare in various conditions, the basics of topography and the possession of various types of military firearms "(approx. spelling and punctuation of the indictment preserved).
For a year and a half, from March 2014 to September 2015, Mykola Karpyuk was in informational isolation, he was not allowed to use the services of a lawyer by agreement, he was not allowed to consul of Ukraine. Karpyuk himself claims that he was forced to refuse the lawyers hired by his wife under pressure from the investigator, who threatened to kill his son. Lawyer Dokka Itslayev was able to enter the case only in September 2015, on the eve of the first court session, after which Mykola Karpyuk announced his retraction of his earlier testimony against himself, Stanislav Klykh and other persons, which, according to him, he had given under torture.
Consideration of the case of Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh in the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic in the city of Grozny began on September 15, 2015. During the preliminary hearing, Judge Ismailov The.Kh. refused to close the case or return it to the prosecutor's office. On September 17, the judge, having satisfied the petitions of the accused, decided to form a jury. The jury was actually formed on October 12, 2015, after which the consideration of the case on the merits began. The hearings continued until January 18, 2016, when the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic decided to postpone the consideration of the case, granting the request of lawyer Marina Dubrovina to conduct an outpatient psychiatric examination of Stanislav Klykh at the Republican Psychoneurological Dispensary. On May 26, 2016, the judge of the Supreme Court of Chechnya, Vakhit Ismailov, sentenced Karpyuk to 22 years and 6 months in a strict regime colony, and Klykh to 20 years in a strict regime colony.
On September 7, 2019, the Russian authorities released 24 Ukrainian sailors detained in the Kerch Strait during a prisoner exchange. Also on the list published on the website of the President of Ukraine are Roman Sushchenko, Evgeny and Artur Panov, Alexander Kolchenko, Oleg Sentsov, Stanislav Klykh, Mykola Karpyuk, Pavel Grib, Oleksiy Sizonovich, Volodymyr Balukh, Edem Bekirov.
Grounds for recognition as a political prisoner
Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh were prosecuted in connection with their alleged participation in hostilities during the First Chechen War against the backdrop of an ongoing anti-Ukrainian campaign since the spring of 2014 in the state media and in the statements of officials holding top leadership positions in the Russian Federation . One of the components of this campaign was the initiation of criminal cases against citizens who publicly express a position on events in Ukraine that differs from the official one, and directly against citizens of Ukraine. The criminal case against Karpiuk and Klykh should be considered in the context of this anti-Ukrainian campaign.
The Human Rights Center "Memorial" analyzed the indictment in case No. 84003, publishing the results in four parts. Analysis of the indictment in the case of members of the UNA-UNSO in Grozny revealed that it was drawn up with violations Russian Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, includes a description of non-existent crimes, contains a large number of factual errors, and in general is almost completely built on the probable slander of the witness Malofeev (who “remembered” twice about new participants in the battles in Grozny a few days after they were detained by Russian special services) and self-incriminations of the accused. All this with a very high degree of probability allows us to speak about the complete innocence of Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh, and that the investigation does not have evidence that they have ever been in Chechnya.
In the first part of the analysis of the indictment ( ), without touching on the factual side of the case, the HRC “Memorial” analyzed the procedural violations, pointing out that the investigation: did not substantiate the accusations of organizing and leading the gang, arbitrarily and without evidence determined the period of activity of the “Viking gang” and did not describe Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation("Banditry") image of the crimes committed by the defendants in the case, which calls into question the very charge of banditry. Thus, the accusation completely lacks a description of the circumstances of the existence and activities of the “gang” from May 2000 to 2006, when Klykh, according to the investigation, left it. Such an extension of the period of existence of the “Viking gang” is obviously necessary for the investigation in order to exclude the possibility of withdrawing charges of banditry due to the statute of limitations.
The evidence base of the case against Karpyuk and Klykh is built mainly on the testimony of the accused themselves, which they refused immediately after they were able to use the help of lawyers, and the witness Malofeev, who at the time of his testimony was serving a 23-year sentence in a strict regime colony. So, Malofeev is the only witness who claims that Karpyuk was in Grozny at all. The fact that Klykh fought in Chechnya, in addition to Malofeev, was testified only by the witness Smoliy D.V. - Klykh's cellmate in the Zelenokumsk TDF (in August 2014, Smoliy was placed there for theft): he was allegedly a Ukrainian “said that he took some part in the hostilities in the Chechen Republic in the 90s”. None of the victims - the surviving Russian servicemen who fought in Grozny at that time or who were captured - pointed to Karpyuk, Klykh and Yatsenyuk as participants in the clashes and the crimes committed against them; The participation of all three, on the contrary, is denied by Ukrainian nationalists who actually fought in Chechnya.
The question of the participation in the war in Chechnya of the Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk (information about such "participation" appeared only in March 2014 in connection with the testimony of Malofeev) was investigated separately. Statements about his participation in the armed conflict, which have not been objectively confirmed in any way, are not relevant to the substance of the charges against Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh, however, they draw attention to the criminal case and increase its significance in the context of modern Russian politics, which may indicate an underlying affairs of the political motive of the authorities.
And the obvious agent of the special services of the Russian Federation, Vyacheslav Fursa, is at large and flies on a charter from Kyiv to Moscow.
On the occasion of the birthday of the leader of the Right Sector, Dmitry Yarosh, I will tell you how he became the sole head of this public entity, and later of the political party. This is all the more interesting because the second leader and founder of the Right Sector, Nikolai Karpyuk, is now in the prison of the Russian Federation, where he even made a statement about the participation of Arseniy Yatsenyuk in the Russian-Chechen war in the mid-90s.
As the politically concerned reader probably remembers, the public movement "Right Sector" situationally formed in the last days of November 2013 from representatives of the political party UNA-UNSO, the All-Ukrainian organization "Tryzub im. Stepan Bandera” and several marginal formations like “Patriot of Ukraine”, “White Hammer”, “Black Committee” and “Carpathian Sich”. The actual leaders were the deputy chairman of UNA-UNSO Mykola Karpyuk and the head of the "Tryzub", an assistant-consultant to the People's Deputy Nalyvaichenko Dmitry Yarosh.
After Yanukovych's escape, the people behind Yarosh decided to turn the Right Sector into a political party to run in the elections. But since only those parties that have existed for at least a year are allowed to participate in the electoral process, the question arose on the agenda - to buy or otherwise take possession of the founding documents and the seal of an already registered party, hold its congress and rename it to "Right Sector".
The easiest way was to do such a manipulation with the UNA-UNSO party, which was actually headed by one of the founders of the "Right Sector" Karpyuk (the old Yury Shukhevych was considered the formal leader). But Nikolai Karpyuk, a long-term UNS member, a political prisoner, convicted during the Kuchma era for participating in a protest action on March 9, 2001, was against it.
However, the congress, at which the UNA-UNSO party was supposed to change its name, was still scheduled for March 22, 2014. The congress was held without Karpyuk and Dmitry Yarosh became the sole leader of the "Right Sector", who, in fact, "raided" the UNA-UNSO party. And on March 29, 2014, Yarosh's associate Andriy Denisenko on the air of Shuster Live stated that on March 21, 2014, Mykola Karpyuk was abducted in the Chernihiv region by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
In fact, Karpyuk ended up in Russia not on March 21, but on March 17, 2014. He was taken out of Ukraine and handed over directly into the hands of the FSB officers not by some mysterious spies, but by the head of the Right Sector headquarters in the Kyiv region, Vyacheslav Fursa. It is clear that this was done by agreement with the Russian special service, which removed Karpyuk in this way so that he would not interfere with the implementation of the FSB's plans in Ukraine.
In order to maintain the appearance of legality, the following was done. Having taken a long walk with Karpyuk in the village of Talalaevka, Nizhyn district, Chernihiv region, Fursa put Nikolai and the driver Igor Yankovsky in his Mercedes car, state registration number AI 2662 VI. While Fursa and drunk Karpyuk sang patriotic songs, the car crossed the Ukrainian border crossing "Bachevsk" in the Sumy region and came close to the barrier from the Russian side. Here the FSB officers - already on the territory of the border crossing "Troebortnoe" of the Russian Federation - detained all three allegedly because the driver did not follow the instructions of the border guard to stop at a certain distance from the barrier.
In order to provide an alibi for Fursa, an administrative protocol was drawn up against him, and the next day, by a decision of the justice of the peace, he was arrested for 15 days. After serving his sentence, Fursa calmly returned to Ukraine. A similar decision was issued regarding Karpyuk, after which Karpyuk was transferred to Moscow and accused of allegedly participating in hostilities in Chechnya.
Over the next year, Nikolai, as well as another Ukrainian, Stanislav Klich, who was detained separately, were mercilessly tortured. At the same time, it is not known for sure whether Karpyuk really took any part in the Russian-Chechen war - I only know that he allegedly fought on the side of the Georgians during the Georgian-Abkhaz confrontation. During interrogations, Karpyuk, for the sake of laughter, said that Arseniy Yatsenyuk also allegedly fought among the Chechens as a volunteer - in order to expose his tormentors to ridicule.
As for Vyacheslav Fursa, this is a well-known Vyshgorod criminal authority, later he even ran for people's deputies, introducing himself as an activist of the "Right Sector".
An interesting detail: on January 16, 2014, during the protests on the Maidan, when the Russian media frightened the "daragih rasseyans" with vicious "right-wingers", Fursa flew to Moscow on a charter flight No. 574. He visited Russia several times after Karpyuk's arrest.
By the way, it was Fursa with his people who captured and plundered Mezhyhirya Yanukovych and the Pshonka estate (in memory of this, Fursa left the legendary “golden loaf”).
A month after Karpyuk was taken to Russia, Fursa with machine gunners appeared at the office of the BRSM-Nafta company, which has a network of gas stations, and on behalf of the Right Sector demanded monthly “material assistance”. Having been refused, he threatened to blow up one of the gas stations. The consequences did not slow down - on April 22, 2014, the BRSM gas station in Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky was blown up, as a result of which 6 people were killed.
Fursa also took an active part in the arson and planting of explosives at other gas stations of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union, in particular in Brovary, when the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs attempted to take over this company. The final attempt of the raider attack was a grandiose fire at the BRSM oil depot near Kyiv, but, as far as I know, the owners of the company have not yet succumbed to blackmail.
Fursa is also known for having founded the so-called “battalion brotherhood”, which is clearly associated with the Russian special services. In February 2015, he was detained for organizing riots near the Presidential Administration, but was soon released.
A logical question is whether Dmitry Yarosh was involved in all these events? I think no. Yarosh generally does not really understand what is happening around his name and does not control people who call themselves the "Right Sector", with the exception of, perhaps, a few close associates.
(Published with minor edits.)
Why nationalist Karpyuk is in a Russian prison, and Yarosh captured UNA-UNSO updated: October 5, 2015 by: editor
The former head of the UNA-UNSO told under what torture the Russian investigation forced him to testify against the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk
On October 12, jury selection will begin in the Supreme Court of Chechnya in the case of 51-year-old Nikolai Karpyuk and 41-year-old Stanislav Klykh, whom the Russian Investigative Committee accuses of fighting against the Russian army in Ukrainian nationalist detachments along with Chechen fighters 20 years ago.
The “case of Ukrainian Viking fighters” who allegedly fought against Russian military personnel in Chechnya in 1994 is one of the most absurd and terrible stories that has happened to Ukrainian citizens arrested in Russia after the annexation of Crimea.
Open Russia appeal to the European Court of Human Rights of one of the defendants in this case, Stanislav Klykh, where he talks about what he confessed to under torture, which he was subjected to for several weeks. In particular, he testified that he fought in Chechnya together with Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Dmitry Yarosh and other Ukrainians who now hold various government posts in Ukraine. Klykh was detained in August 2014 and became the second defendant in the “case of Ukrainian Viking fighters”. Why Vikings? That was the name of the detachment of Ukrainian nationalists, which, according to the prosecution, included Klykh and Mykola Karpyuk.
Mykola Karpyuk is a well-known Ukrainian nationalist who led the UNA-UNSO until this movement turned into the Right Sector. He was detained in Russia on March 17, 2014, and until September 2015 there was almost no information about him. Neither lawyers, nor relatives, nor representatives of the Ukrainian consulate in Russia, nor Russian human rights activists could get through to him. His name was not listed in the database of prisoners of the Russian prison department.
For almost two years, Nikolay Karpyuk was like the "Iron Mask" under Louis XIV, who was kept in various prisons and was not shown to anyone.
When the case was transferred to the Supreme Court of Chechnya, the lawyer managed to go on a date with Karpyuk, he was able to talk to him, and Karpyuk wrote an appeal to the ECHR, in which he described his story in detail, on 8 pages, in neat, almost student handwriting, about how they detained him, how they tortured him, how they hid him from everyone. About how a year and a half of his life turned into a real hell.
This story is written somehow calmly and casually, or something. But if you read carefully, then behind every line you can feel the horror that this person experienced. And you vividly imagine that this can happen to anyone. And somehow it's all very simple. Everyday. It's scary because the people who did it weren't afraid of anything. They told Nikolai Karpyuk that "Russia is not a country where human rights are respected."
And one more thing: the people who detained talked to Karpyuk, interrogated him without lawyers and tortured him, threatened that they would also torture his wife and son. They are absolutely sure that it will pass with impunity; they do not give their real names and surnames.
What for? I do not have an answer to this question - simply because I have not yet been able to speak with the investigators who were in charge of this case. So far, I have not been able to and will hardly be able to ask this question to the heads of the investigative department in the Investigative Committee, who supervised this case. So far, I have not been able to, and it is unlikely that I will be able to, put this question to those FSB officers who were in charge of the operational support of this case.
One thing is clear to me: the price of all the confessions obtained in this case, forced out under torture, is zero.
I would very much like the jurors, who will be selected in the Supreme Court of Chechnya on October 12, to learn about this and understand this.
I know quite a lot about how jury trials work in Russia. But I have never been to the sessions of the Supreme Court of Chechnya. And I don't know how a jury works in Chechnya.
The only thing I’m sure of is that those Chechens who will be among the jurors in the case of Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klyk, probably have relatives or close friends who, unlike Karpyuk and Klykh, fought in 1994 on the side of Chechen fighters, as they fought Akhmad Kadyrov, father of current Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.
Fragments of Mykola Karpiuk's appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg
Failed negotiations
“On March 17, 2014, I was detained by Russian special services on the border of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Together with Vyacheslav Stepanovich Fursa and his driver Igor, we drove to Moscow in a ''221-Mercedes S-500'' to negotiate with the leadership of the Russian Federation. The meeting was organized by V.S. Fursa, through his acquaintances, who, according to Fursa, had personal connections with President V.V. Putin.
My trip was discussed by the leadership of the ''Legal Sector'' of Ukraine, where it was decided to delegate me to that meeting. After being detained at a checkpoint on the Russian border, the three of us were sent to the Bryansk department of the FSB, where they were kept in a temporary detention center. The FSB officers had several conversations with us, at which we spoke about the purpose of our trip. One of these conversations was attended by a representative of the Presidential Administration (Presidential Administration. - Open Russia) of Russia.
On March 20, 2014, in the morning, security officers came into my cell, put chains on my arms and legs, loaded me into a minibus and took me away without explaining anything.
accusation
On the night of March 20-21, we arrived at the Office of the Russian Investigative Committee in Essentuki. Employee of the IC Kurbanov M.A. told me that I was detained on suspicion of committing a crime on the territory of the Russian Federation in the period from 1994 to 2001, for which punishment is provided under Art. 209, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (creation of a stable armed group, gang). I was accused of participating in hostilities in the Chechen Republic during this period. I was sent to the temporary detention facility in Essentuki. On the evening of March 21, they told me that I was leaving ''for a stage''. I was blindfolded with a plastic bag, tied with tape, then loaded into a paddy wagon and taken away in an unknown direction.<...>
From excessive squeezing with adhesive tape, my head was swollen and I was not thinking well. After some time, I was dropped off the paddy wagon and taken to the fourth floor of a house. I counted the floors later by the turns of the stairs along which we climbed. Here I was met by a group of people (I don't know how many there were, because my eyes were blindfolded and I couldn't see).
Torture begins
The leader of the group called himself Maxim and told me what they would do to me so that I would confess to the crimes I was accused of. He said that first I would be tortured with electric current and how it would be passed. Then physical violence will be used, if these methods fail, my wife and son will be kidnapped. They will be subjected to the same violence and will still force me to confess to the crimes.
My assurances that I was not in Chechnya were not perceived by them.
My hands were handcuffed behind my back. My feet and hands were tied with ropes, the handcuffs were removed. Clamps were attached to the second toe of the right foot and the middle finger of the right hand. Then they began to pass an electric current through me with different durations: sometimes for tens of seconds, sometimes with instant shocks, sometimes for a long time.
I did not confess to anything, because I did not take part in the hostilities. During the conduct of this kind of ''inquiries'', I was often told: ''You did this'', ''Then you arrived in Grozny and did this and that'', ''There were such and such people.
After a certain time, the torture stopped and I was told that our conversation would continue the next night.
Electrocution and insomnia
I was brought to the temporary detention center, the blindfold was removed from my eyes and taken to the investigation room, where I was locked in a barred compartment measuring 1m x 1m. I was kept in this cell for 4 days and was not allowed to sleep. There was one guard in the room in shifts, who made sure that I did not sleep. I didn't know where I was. I thought that in the temporary detention facility in Essentuki. And only on April 20 from the investigator Kurbanov M.A. I found out that I was in Vladikavkaz.
Through torture with electricity, my fingers became numb. I didn't feel good about them. They took me out for these ''procedures'' for four nights. The current was passed through different parts of the body: through the whole body, through the heart, through the genitals. They put some kind of needles under my nails, but I didn’t feel pain, probably due to the fact that I didn’t feel my fingers.
On March 25, I was once again brought in for an 'examination' (interrogation - Open Russia). This time they didn't tie my legs. Maxim said that they were tired of my stubbornness and he gave the command to seize my son and bring him in order to subject him to the same torture in front of my eyes. He also said that they would bring his wife, if possible. But a son will be enough for them. I said not to touch my son and wife, I am ready to accept the blame and sign all the necessary documents. Maxim asked me to tell him my consciousness. I told what I heard from them during the torture. What happened next, I don't know.
I started delirious. When a person is deprived of sleep, delirium occurs on 4-5 days.
I woke up in a temporary detention cell.
Indications
On the morning of March 26, investigator Petrov came to me. With him, we began to draw up an interrogation protocol. The most humiliating thing was that I had to testify myself. When there were some inaccuracies, significant deviations in my testimony, corrections were made due to the fact that Maxim came to me (at the same time I was blindfolded so that I could not see) and he pointed out to me where I made "incorrect" testimony and explanations.
“Nikolai,” he said, “have you forgotten, or are you deliberately misleading the investigation? It happened then. There were some people there. Some episodes in the testimony were clarified by the investigator Petrov. Thus, by the end of March, we completed work with the investigator.
I understood that I had slandered many people, my friends, comrades.
No protection
On the night of March 20-21, 2014, when investigator Kurbanov explained to me that I was detained on suspicion of committing a crime (Article 209, part 1), I was provided with a female lawyer (I don’t remember my last name) In the evening Maxim came and pointed out me for the mistakes I made. She defended me in court, where they announced that I was detained and arrested for 2 months. At the interrogations conducted in Vladikavkaz, which were conducted by the investigator Petrov, there was no lawyer. We "worked" with interrogations for about five days with breaks for lunch. Maxim came in the evening and pointed out to me the mistakes made by the method described above. Petrov made some clarifications: he showed with gestures how I put a knife in the back of a Russian serviceman, indicated the reason why I was giving evidence (supposedly I was offended that no one was helping me, although how and who could help me in that situation?). When the protocol of the interrogation was completely ready, investigator Petrov came with the lawyer Mamukaeva L.T., who signed the already prepared protocol.<...>
Periodically, I was given the text of a statement printed on a computer about refusing the services of some lawyers. I just rewrote it. First, I didn't know who these people were.
Secondly, I did not see the point in involving someone in my defense, since I did not have the opportunity to pay for the services. I did not know where these people came from, because no one told me this.
Rusty Nail
When I got into the cell, I found a rusty nail, sharpened it against the wall and wanted to open my throat. I understood that the only way out of this situation was to take my own life. But there was an inconspicuous video camera in the cell. The escorts broke into me, who followed me and took the nail, searched the cell and followed my actions for a long time.<...>
Of course, on my conscience of perjury against many people. These pangs of conscience will be with me until the last days. May these people forgive me. I did this not out of malice, but in the name of protecting my son and wife.
Revenge for my beliefs
I know that the Russian FSB is well aware that I did not take part in the Chechen war. Since 2001, the Prosecutor's Office of the Chechen Republic has repeatedly sent to the investigating authorities of Ukraine requests for specific citizens of Ukraine with a request to conduct an inquiry into their involvement in hostilities in the Chechen Republic. Each time a clear list of the same people was drawn up. I, accordingly, was not in these lists. The criminal prosecution against me is revenge for my convictions, for the fact that I devoted many years of my life to the work of creating the sovereign state of Ukraine.
Break my will, force me to change my convictions, slander people and myself ...
And also to impose on me and other members of the UNA-UNSO non-existent atrocities against people - they need these actions in order to somehow justify the crimes that were committed on the territory of Chechnya by Russian servicemen.
Letters to freedom
In January 2015, in response to my appeal to the head of SIZO-6 in Vladikavkaz, I was allowed to write a letter to my relatives. The envelopes were given to me by a cellmate. I wrote a letter in Ukrainian. They returned it to me and asked me to write it in Russian, which I did. I received a response to this letter in March from my wife and son.
At different times I wrote letters to my wife from Vladikavkaz (3 letters) in Russian and two letters from Chelyabinsk in Ukrainian. But received no replies.
As for human rights, I must say that Russia is not the country where they are observed. This was repeatedly stated to me during the investigation. I have felt it myself. Until the end of the investigation, I did not even think of taking any action in defense of myself and my rights. I made a promise to behave accordingly in return for not touching my family.
Therefore, I refused the services of lawyers without any hesitation.
At the end of the investigation in Chelyabinsk, I was also provided with a lawyer.
I don't remember his last name. He was present at giving me the opportunity to get acquainted with the materials of the case, which I refused, because I did not see the point in reading all this nonsense.
September 29, 2015 N. A. Karpyuk.
Here is such a document. Very important.
Karpyuk does not explain what kind of negotiations he was going to Moscow for, with whom exactly from the officials in the presidential administration of Russia he was going to meet.
It is obvious that his detention and arrest were planned in advance by the Russian special services. After recent statements by Alexander Bastrykin that Prime Minister Yatsenyuk fought in Chechnya in 1994, it is clear why the special services needed Karpyuk, whose weaknesses (wife and son) were known in advance to those who planned his arrest.
Karpyuk's story is also important because it once again shows the technology used by the special services to construct the criminal cases they need. Everything is foreseen and seems to be done according to well-known patterns: detention, administrative arrest, accusation, torture, psychological pressure, "frank" confession, transfer, detention in "solitary", without lawyers and without contact with relatives. And so for almost two years.
And now, the court.
Mykola Karpyuk faces 20 years of strict regime.
How Putin takes revenge on the Ukrainians for helping Chechnya. Questions about Yarosh's personality again...
On September 15 at 11 am, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Chechnya in Grozny began a preliminary hearing in the case of two Ukrainian citizens - Nikolai Karpyuk, deputy leader of the Right Sector, and Stanislav Klykh, a teacher at the National Transport University. Both are charged with the murder of Russian soldiers in Grozny in 1994-1995 and other grave crimes, the punishment for which, according to the criminal code of the Russian Federation, is from 15 years in prison to life.
Nikolay Karpyuk. Photo from the family archive
Nobody has seen him since. Neither the lawyers nor the Ukrainian consul have ever been able to meet with him.
Karpiuk is the first Ukrainian prisoner in Russia after the Euromaidan and even before the annexation of Crimea. He is also the only figure among all the detained Ukrainians of such political weight.
He is accused of organizing a group of mercenaries to go to war in Chechnya, participating in this war on the side of the rebels Dzhokhar Dudayev in 1994-1995, killing Russian military, and also of attempted murder.
A participant in one of the gangs of mercenaries organized by Karpyuk was, according to investigators, Stanislav Klykh, a Kyiv journalist. He was detained in the city of Orel in the territory of the Russian Federation, where he went to meet his girlfriend. Ukrainian consuls were also never allowed to see Klykh, but after 10 months of imprisonment, Marina Dubrovina, his lawyer, managed to get through to him.
Stanislav Klykh. Photo from the family archive
The investigation was conducted by the Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the North Caucasian Federal District. At the moment, the pre-trial investigation in the Karpyuk-Klykh case has been completed.
Why Yarosh's deputy went to Russia
On March 15, 2014, at a dacha near Kyiv, 11 members of the Right Sector wire decided how to proceed further in connection with the preparations for the annexation of Crimea. There were: Dmitry Yarosh, Mykola Karpyuk, Andriy Tarasenko (now instead of Karpyuk he is engaged in political direction in the PS), Andriy Stempytsky (commander of the DUK), Andriy Artemenko (current people's deputy from the RPL), Vyacheslav Fursa (at that time the head of the Kyiv regional organization of the PS and godfather of Nikolai Karpyuk).
At this meeting, the head of the Kyiv regional organization of the Right Sector, Vyacheslav Fursa, offered to go and negotiate with the Russians at the highest level - the names of advisers to President Vladimir Putin were named, on which, as Fursa stated, he had exits.
Vyacheslav Fursa, screenshot from video
Such a meeting would provide an opportunity to resolve the issue with Crimea in favor of Ukraine. Fursa and Karpyuk were supposed to go. However, according to the participants themselves, everyone was against it.
“Nikolai made such a decision, he ended up in that territory. Although this was contrary to both my decision and the decision of those people who were present there the day before his departure. Well, and a well-executed FSB operation. Then there was the question of the Crimean referendum and, accordingly, certain proposals were received through a person close to Nikolai that he could come and talk. And, perhaps, even that referendum there would somehow have been canceled,” says PS leader Dmitry Yarosh.
However, already on March 17, on Monday, Karpyuk did not pick up the phone. Yuriy Tandit, adviser to the chairman of the SBU, confirmed to Public TV the information that it was on this day that Karpyuk crossed the border between Chernihiv and Bryansk regions and was detained on the other side of the border. Vyacheslav Fursu and his driver were also detained with Karpyuk. The last two returned after 15 days - this information is confirmed by Tandit. He says that Fursa was broken after this detention - they put psychological pressure on him in Russia, they tried to recruit him.
Now Fursa has been expelled from the Right Sector and is not answering calls. Andriy Artemenko, a people's deputy and friend of Karpyuk, in a conversation with Public TV said that Viktor Medvedchuk helped to free Fursa and the driver. And already in February 2015, Fursa was one of the organizers of the “battalion brotherhood”, which burned tires under the AP, he was then detained for hooliganism, for which he was in jail for about a month.
Mykola Karpyuk has not returned so far.
Elena Karpyuk, photo by Anastasia Stanko
On March 21, 2014, his wife Elena received a letter from the investigative committee of the Russian Federation stating that her husband had been detained and accused of involvement in crimes in Chechnya. Elena believes that someone framed Nikolai: he never told her that he was going to Russia. How he got there - the woman still does not understand.
There is one coincidence in this whole story. Literally a week later, several important events took place in the Right Sector. In March 2014, everyone was talking about the PS, queues of foreign journalists and domestic politicians lined up to the leaders of the movement, and on Russian channels this party was second in popularity only to the pro-government United Russia. So, chronologically:
at a dacha near Kyiv, the leaders of the wire (Alexander Muzychko, Karpyuk's longtime ally, was not present at the meeting) decide that Karpyuk is not going anywhere in Russia to negotiate.
Karpyuk is detained at the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Dmitry Yarosh claims that it was Karpyuk who offered him to rename the party and lead it. He considers that week a coincidence, and the disconnection of various organizations from the PS is a natural process. Everyone dispersed peacefully, insists Yarosh.
Were Karpyuk and Klykh ever in Chechnya?
Elena Karpyuk convinces that her husband has never been to Chechnya in his life. He fought as part of the UNSO (Karpyuk was and remains one of the leaders of UNA-UNSO) in Abkhazia and Transnistria.
The fact that Karpyuk was not in Chechnya is confirmed by UNSO member Igor Mazur - "Topol", who just participated in the First Chechen War, and People's Deputy Igor Mosiychuk, who at the time of the war was also one of the active members of the UNSO and can name everyone, which of them helped fight on the side of Dudayev.
Dmitry Yarosh did not participate in the Chechen war, as he himself claims, although it is his Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus District that he considers to be a co-organizer, along with Karpyuk, of a gang that organized and brought mercenaries to help Chechen fighters. And it is Yarosh who is summoned by the investigation for questioning in this case. The leader of the PS claims that he once offered help to Dudayev, but he refused, arguing that they had fewer weapons than those who wanted to fight for them.
“During the first war, we cooperated with Dudayev as the Trident organization - we treated the wounded, provided security, and sent humanitarian aid. I turned to Dudaev with the wish that I could form a unit, to which I received the answer: “Thank you for such a desire, but we have fewer weapons than those who want it,” so we, accordingly, did not go there. This is 1995-1996. But neither I took direct part in that armed conflict, nor Nikolai, as far as I know, never was a day, ”says Yarosh.
Although there is no evidence that Karpyuk participated in the First Chechen war, it follows from the case file that he confessed to everything. And in participating in the war, and in organizing bands of mercenaries together with Yarosh. If you believe the version of the investigation, then among the goals of the UNA-UNSO was "the destruction of citizens of the Russian Federation of Russian nationality."
Photo edition Panos. 1994, Grozny. In the photo Sashko "Biliy" - Alexander Muzychko
Among the citizens of Ukraine who pursued such goals and therefore joined the UNSO, the investigation names the late Oleksandr Muzychko (who actually fought in Chechnya, led the Viking battalion and was the head of the personal guard of Dzhokhar Dudayev), Karpyuk, Klykh (who studied during the war in the fourth year of Kyiv National Shevchenko University, was at the UNSO for about six months in 1996), and a certain Alexander Malofeev.
As we managed to learn from Stanislav Klykh's lawyer Marina Dubrovina, Oleksandr Malofeev is a Ukrainian citizen, convicted of murder on the territory of the Russian Federation in 2009 and other crimes. His sentence is 23 years.
Malofeev agreed to cooperate with the investigation and testified against Klykh and Karpyuk. He testified that he was in the same gang with the suspects and participated in battles against the Russian military. In particular, they fought, according to the prosecution, in Grozny near the presidential palace, as well as on the Minutka station square. Thus, according to investigators, Klykh fired at least 130 shots from a 5.45 Kalashnikov assault rifle, killing at least 30 Russian soldiers and inflicting injuries of varying severity on at least thirteen. However, according to Karpyuk's wife, in 1993 he was wounded in Abkhazia, after which he was treated in a Lvov hospital for three months.
From what lawyer Dubrovina knows about Malofeev: he has been in one of the pre-trial detention centers in Chelyabinsk for 6 years. He has HIV in the 4th stage, hepatitis B and C, as well as tuberculosis. Prior to the arrest of Karpyuk and Klykh, his crimes had nothing to do with Chechnya.
The case even mentions the date of December 19, 1994. At this time, as if another member of the UNSO Igor Mazur "Topol" met Karpyuk in Grozny. "Topol", however, assures that he arrived in Grozny only at the beginning of 1995, and Karpyuk was not there at all.
"As far as I know, it appears in the case that I was allegedly in Chechnya and met him in Grozny on December 14, 1994. Even before the events when many Russian soldiers died on New Year's holidays.
If someone knows these guys well who are interested in football, then I was all those days - Dynamo Kiev played with Bayern - it was me in those days at football, and not in Grozny.
I arrived in Chechnya after the New Year, on the New Year there were these hostilities ... We arrived to meet with Sashko Muzychko. But Nikolai Karpyuk was not there either in December or January - he had never been in Chechnya in his life.
Here, one of the main arguments was that he was the head of the Rovno organization, and Sashko "Biliy" Muzychko was from the Rovno organization. And it’s like they have a reason that Nikolai sent him,” says Igor Mazur.
How confessions were beaten out of Karpyuk and Klykh
It is not known what they did to Nikolai Karpyuk in order to extract evidence. Neither the lawyers nor the consul saw him during this entire period. Although the diplomats applied 18 times with a request to meet and came to the pre-trial detention center three times, they were refused all the times.
“I managed to see Stanislav at the court already. But they didn't talk in person.
In the matter of health, our opinion also coincides with the opinion of the lawyer, he really has problems - the conditions there are very, very difficult. And now we once again raised the question, sent a corresponding note, about a meeting with Nikolai and Stanislav in court.
We have already traveled to this region seven times, traveled around the pre-trial detention center: we were in Vladikavkaz, and in Pyatigorsk, we also visited Yesentuki. We had constant conversations with the leadership of the Main Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the North Caucasian Federal District, each of our visits ended with notes of protest and complaints ... Once we managed to make a transfer and financial assistance to Stanislav when he was in a pre-trial detention center in Pyatigorsk. We arrived in Vladikavkaz - we did not find him. The guys are constantly hidden from us,” says Consul of Ukraine in Rostov-on-Don Oleksandr Kovtun.
The lawyers were told that their client was being moved by gj of the county's territory. During the period of detention of the suspect, the sixth lawyer has already changed - the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation sends letters to all defenders that Nikolai Karpyuk refuses their services. But not a single refusal bears the signature of Karpyuk himself.
For the entire period, Nikolai wrote only two letters to his wife with the address of departure to the city of Vladikavkaz, SIZO No. 6.
Elena Karpyuk received her last letter from her husband from Vladikavkaz
“The last one is dated April 20th. He was forced to write letters in Russian, he did not say anything about the state of his own health.
He writes “he is forced to write in Russian” ... The letter was readable - that's why such a letter.
At that moment when the letter arrived, I knew that he was there, in the Vladikavkaz pre-trial detention center, but now I already doubt it, because lawyers, as soon as they come to this pre-trial detention center 6, they are denied an appointment: they say that he is not there.
It seems to me that even Russia did not work here so much as someone helped here. Now I don't trust either the leadership of the Right Sector or the UNSO. Because I see: everyone here has some interests in that Nikolai is gone, ”says Elena Karpyuk.
Elena Karpyuk confirms that the letter was written by the hand of her husband Nikolay
Stanislav Klykh's lawyer Marina Dubrovina saw in the case file a forensic medical examination not only of her client, but also of Karpyuk, since both Ukrainians are involved in the same case. The forensic physician indicated the following: torn tendons, hanging, electric shock torture. So they beat out a confession.
According to lawyer Marina Dubrovina, who saw her client four times during the entire period, Stanislav was in solitary confinement all the time. For 10 months no one was allowed to see him. He told his lawyer that between early September 2014 and late October 2014, he was tortured daily. They hung him with handcuffs from the ceiling, which caused the handcuffs to cut into the bones on his wrists, and tortured him with electric current. This continued until he confessed everything and testified against Karpyuk. Stanislav handed over to Dubrovina a statement that he renounces the previously given testimony as such, which was obtained under torture. The wounds from them have not yet healed, Klykh's tendons are torn, it is difficult for him to turn on the water tap. During his stay in the pre-trial detention center, the blood composition has changed, he has iron deficiency anemia, low hemoglobin. Marina says that “people don’t have such a complexion, it’s a gray-green color.”
During the court hearing, which decided the issue of extending the measure of restraint, Stanislav asked the court to release him on bail, since he could not be in a pre-trial detention center due to poor health. The Ukrainian consuls were ready to post a bail for him, but the court refused to do so, extending the period of detention until October 21. Mykola Karpiuk's detention was extended until September 21.
The previous hearing in the case is scheduled for September 15. The term of Mykola Karpiuk's detention expires on September 21. It is on this day that 18 months have passed since he was held in custody. This is the maximum period of pre-trial detention provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. This means that if the preliminary hearing had not been scheduled for next week, then after September 21, Karpyuk would have to be released from the pre-trial detention center.
Next stop - Grozny
Both Ukrainian citizens will be judged at the place of the crime - that is, in Grozny, in the Republic of Chechnya.
According to the latest information that his wife has, now Nikolai Karpyuk is in one of the pre-trial detention centers in Chelyabinsk. There is a new, already sixth, lawyer in the case. This time from Chechnya. This is Dokka Itslayev, who has been cooperating with the human rights center "Memorial" for many years. He will have to familiarize himself with the case as soon as possible, in which there is not a single defense witness yet. The investigative committee has already promised him a meeting with Karpyuk before the next court session - as soon as the suspect is transferred from Chelyabinsk to Grozny.
To pay for the services of lawyers, both families - Karpyuk's wife Elena, who stayed with her 10-year-old son, and Stanislav Klykh's retired parents - opened card accounts.
Nikolai Karpyuk with his son Taras, photo from the family archive
Lawyers promise to do everything possible. They suggest that after meeting with the lawyer, Mykola Karpyuk will follow the example of Stanislav and also renounce his testimony, which was beaten out of him by torture.
The case of Malofeev, who, according to the investigation, was also a member of the gang and who agreed to cooperate with the investigation, was separated into a separate proceeding.
The lawyers' main argument is that their clients have never been to Chechnya, so all the accusations are groundless. The Ukrainian special services could provide evidence of non-involvement. Indeed, in the 90s, each “right-wing” organization was assigned a curator from the SBU, who knew about the movement and whereabouts of all its members. This information could be provided by special services, in particular, by the current Chairman of the SBU, Vasily Gritsak, who from 1991 to 1999 held senior positions in the Rivne regional department of the SBU. It was in this city that in the same years he led the regional center of the UNSO Karpyuk. They were very well acquainted. And already during the Revolution of Dignity, it was Mykola Karpyuk who introduced PS leader Yarosh to the future chairman of the Security Service.
Marina Dubrovina, when asked what terms of conviction the prosecution may ask for, answers: “Well, we will definitely have long ones, like Sentsov’s, but I tell Stas: we must not give up.”
Maria Tomak, an activist at the Center for Civil Liberties who deals with the cases of Ukrainian prisoners in Russia and helps with lawyers and human rights activists, believes that the trial of Karpiuk and Klykh will be open. Thus, Russia is trying to punish the entire UNSO for participating in the wars in which they fought against Russia - this is Abkhazia, and the same Chechnya. Therefore, according to the human rights activist, the case of Karpyuk-Klykh, like that of Sentsov or Savchenko, is political, only in terms of cruelty and violations of all, even formal, norms, he has no equal.
The former head of the UNA-UNSO told under what torture the Russian investigation forced him to testify against the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk
On October 12, jury selection will begin in the Supreme Court of Chechnya in the case of 51-year-old Nikolai Karpyuk and 41-year-old Stanislav Klykh, whom the Russian Investigative Committee accuses of fighting against the Russian army in Ukrainian nationalist detachments along with Chechen fighters 20 years ago.
The “case of Ukrainian Viking fighters” who allegedly fought against Russian military personnel in Chechnya in 1994 is one of the most absurd and terrible stories that has happened to Ukrainian citizens arrested in Russia after the annexation of Crimea.
Open Russia published an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights by one of the defendants in this case, Stanislav Klykh, where he talks about what he confessed to under torture, which he was subjected to for several weeks. In particular, he testified that he fought in Chechnya together with Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Dmitry Yarosh and other Ukrainians who now hold various government posts in Ukraine. Klykh was detained in August 2014 and became the second defendant in the “case of Ukrainian Viking fighters”. Why Vikings? That was the name of the detachment of Ukrainian nationalists, which, according to the prosecution, included Klykh and Mykola Karpyuk.
Mykola Karpyuk is a well-known Ukrainian nationalist who led the UNA-UNSO* until this movement turned into the Right Sector*. He was detained in Russia on March 17, 2014, and until September 2015 there was almost no information about him. Neither lawyers, nor relatives, nor representatives of the Ukrainian consulate in Russia, nor Russian human rights activists could get through to him. His name was not listed in the database of prisoners of the Russian prison department.
For almost two years, Nikolay Karpyuk was like the "Iron Mask" under Louis XIV, who was kept in various prisons and was not shown to anyone.
When the case was transferred to the Supreme Court of Chechnya, the lawyer managed to go on a date with Karpyuk, he was able to talk with him, and Karpyuk wrote an appeal to the ECHR, in which he described his story in detail, on 8 pages, in neat, almost student handwriting - about how how they detained him, how they tortured him, how they hid him from everyone. About how a year and a half of his life turned into a real hell.
This story is written somehow calmly and casually, or something. But if you read carefully, then behind every line you can feel the horror that this person experienced. And you vividly imagine that this can happen to anyone. And somehow it's all very simple. Everyday. Scary - because the people who did it were not afraid of anything. They told Nikolai Karpyuk that "Russia is not a country where human rights are respected."
And one more thing: the people who detained talked to Karpyuk, interrogated him without lawyers and tortured him, threatened that they would also torture his wife and son. They are absolutely sure that it will pass with impunity; they do not give their real names and surnames.
What for? I do not have an answer to this question - simply because I have not yet been able to speak with the investigators who were in charge of this case. So far, I have not been able to and will hardly be able to ask this question to the heads of the investigative department in the Investigative Committee, who supervised this case. So far, I have not been able to, and it is unlikely that I will be able to, put this question to those FSB officers who were in charge of the operational support of this case.
One thing is clear to me: the price of all the confessions obtained in this case, forced out under torture, is zero.
I would very much like the jurors, who will be selected in the Supreme Court of Chechnya on October 12, to learn about this and understand this.
I know quite a lot about how jury trials work in Russia. But I have never been to the sessions of the Supreme Court of Chechnya. And I don't know how a jury works in Chechnya.
The only thing I’m sure of is that those Chechens who will be among the jurors in the case of Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klyk, probably have relatives or close friends who, unlike Karpyuk and Klykh, fought in 1994 on the side of Chechen fighters, as they fought Akhmad Kadyrov, father of current Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.
Fragments of Mykola Karpiuk's appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg
Failed negotiations
“On March 17, 2014, I was detained by Russian special services on the border of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Together with Vyacheslav Stepanovich Fursa and his driver Igor, we drove to Moscow in a 221-Mercedes S-500 car to negotiate with the leadership of the Russian Federation. The meeting was organized by V.S. Fursa, through his acquaintances, who, according to Fursa, had personal connections with President V.V. Putin.
My trip was discussed by the leadership of the "Legal Sector" of Ukraine, where it was decided to delegate me to that meeting. After being detained at a checkpoint on the Russian border, the three of us were sent to the Bryansk department of the FSB, where they were kept in a temporary detention center. The FSB officers had several conversations with us, at which we spoke about the purpose of our trip. One of these conversations was attended by some representative of the Presidential Administration (Presidential Administration. - Open Russia) of Russia.
On March 20, 2014, in the morning, security officers came into my cell, put chains on my arms and legs, loaded me into a minibus and took me away without explaining anything.
accusation
On the night of March 20-21, we arrived at the Office of the Russian Investigative Committee in Essentuki. Employee of the IC Kurbanov M.A. told me that I was detained on suspicion of committing a crime on the territory of the Russian Federation in the period from 1994 to 2001, for which punishment is provided under Art. 209, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (creation of a stable armed group, gang). I was accused of participating in hostilities in the Chechen Republic during this period. I was sent to the temporary detention facility in Essentuki. On the evening of March 21, they told me that I was leaving "for a stage". I was blindfolded with a plastic bag, tied with tape, then loaded into a paddy wagon and taken away in an unknown direction.<...>
From excessive squeezing with adhesive tape, my head was swollen and I was not thinking well. After some time, I was dropped off the paddy wagon and taken to the fourth floor of a house. I counted the floors later by the turns of the stairs along which we climbed. Here I was met by a group of people (I don't know how many there were, because my eyes were blindfolded and I couldn't see).
Torture begins
The leader of the group called himself Maxim and told me what they would do to me so that I would confess to the crimes I was accused of. He said that first I would be tortured with electric current and how it would be passed. Then physical violence will be used, if these methods fail, my wife and son will be kidnapped. They will be subjected to the same violence and will still force me to confess to the crimes.
My assurances that I was not in Chechnya were not perceived by them.
My hands were handcuffed behind my back. My feet and hands were tied with ropes, the handcuffs were removed. Clamps were attached to the second toe of the right foot and the middle finger of the right hand. Then they began to pass an electric current through me with different durations: sometimes for tens of seconds, sometimes with instant shocks, sometimes for a long time.
I did not confess to anything, because I did not take part in the hostilities. During the conduct of this kind of ""inquiries"" I was often told: ""You did this"", ""Then you arrived in Grozny and did this and that"", ""There were such and such people.
After a certain time, the torture stopped and I was told that our conversation would continue the next night.
Electrocution and insomnia
I was brought to the temporary detention center, the blindfold was removed from my eyes and taken to the investigation room, where I was locked in a barred compartment measuring 1m x 1m. I was kept in this cell for 4 days and was not allowed to sleep. There was one guard in the room in shifts, who made sure that I did not sleep. I didn't know where I was. I thought that in the temporary detention facility in Essentuki. And only on April 20 from the investigator Kurbanov M.A. I found out that I was in Vladikavkaz.
Through torture with electricity, my fingers became numb. I didn't feel good about them. They took me out for these "procedures" for four nights. The current was passed through different parts of the body: through the whole body, through the heart, through the genitals. They put some kind of needles under my nails, but I didn’t feel pain, probably due to the fact that I didn’t feel my fingers.
On March 25, they once again brought me for "experimentation" (interrogation - Open Russia). This time they didn't tie my legs. Maxim said that they were tired of my stubbornness and he gave the command to seize my son and bring him in order to subject him to the same torture in front of my eyes. He also said that they would bring his wife, if possible. But a son will be enough for them. I said not to touch my son and wife, I am ready to accept the blame and sign all the necessary documents. Maxim asked me to tell him my consciousness. I told what I heard from them during the torture. What happened next, I don't know.
I started delirious. When a person is deprived of sleep, delirium occurs on 4-5 days.
I woke up in a temporary detention cell.
Indications
On the morning of March 26, investigator Petrov came to me. With him, we began to draw up an interrogation protocol. The most humiliating thing was that I had to testify myself. When there were some inaccuracies, significant deviations in my testimony, corrections were made due to the fact that Maxim came to me (at the same time they blindfolded me so that I could not see) and he pointed out to me where I made ""incorrect"" testimony and explanations.
“Nikolai,” he said, “or have you forgotten, or are you deliberately misleading the investigation? It happened then. There were such and such people. Some episodes in the testimony were clarified by the investigator Petrov. Thus, by the end of March, we completed work with the investigator.
I understood that I had slandered many people, my friends, comrades.
No protection
On the night of March 20-21, 2014, when investigator Kurbanov explained to me that I was detained on suspicion of committing a crime (Article 209, part 1), I was provided with a female lawyer (I don’t remember my last name) In the evening Maxim came and pointed out me for the mistakes I made. She defended me in court, where they announced that I was detained and arrested for 2 months. At the interrogations conducted in Vladikavkaz, which were conducted by the investigator Petrov, there was no lawyer. We "worked" with interrogations for about five days with breaks for lunch. Maxim came in the evening and pointed out to me the mistakes made by the method described above. Petrov made some clarifications: he showed with gestures how I put a knife in the back of a Russian serviceman, indicated the reason why I was giving evidence (supposedly I was offended that no one was helping me, although how and who could help me in that situation?). When the protocol of the interrogation was completely ready, investigator Petrov came with the lawyer Mamukaeva L.T., who signed the already prepared protocol.<...>
Periodically, I was given the text of a statement printed on a computer about refusing the services of some lawyers. I just rewrote it. First, I didn't know who these people were.
Secondly, I did not see the point in involving someone in my defense, since I did not have the opportunity to pay for the services. I did not know where these people came from, because no one told me this.
Rusty Nail
When I got into the cell, I found a rusty nail, sharpened it against the wall and wanted to open my throat. I understood that the only way out of this situation was to take my own life. But there was an inconspicuous video camera in the cell. The escorts broke into me, who followed me and took the nail, searched the cell and followed my actions for a long time.<...>
Of course, on my conscience of perjury against many people. These pangs of conscience will be with me until the last days. May these people forgive me. I did this not out of malice, but in the name of protecting my son and wife.
Revenge for my beliefs
I know that the Russian FSB is well aware that I did not take part in the Chechen war. Since 2001, the Prosecutor's Office of the Chechen Republic has repeatedly sent to the investigating authorities of Ukraine requests for specific citizens of Ukraine with a request to conduct an inquiry into their involvement in hostilities in the Chechen Republic. Each time a clear list of the same people was drawn up. I, accordingly, was not in these lists. The criminal prosecution against me is revenge for my convictions, for the fact that I devoted many years of my life to the work of creating the sovereign state of Ukraine.
Break my will, force me to change my convictions, slander people and myself ...
And also to impose on me and other members of the UNA-UNSO non-existent atrocities against people - they need these actions in order to somehow justify the crimes that were committed on the territory of Chechnya by Russian servicemen.
Letters to freedom
In January 2015, in response to my appeal to the head of SIZO-6 in Vladikavkaz, I was allowed to write a letter to my relatives. The envelopes were given to me by a cellmate. I wrote a letter in Ukrainian. They returned it to me and asked me to write it in Russian, which I did. I received a response to this letter in March from my wife and son.
At different times I wrote letters to my wife from Vladikavkaz (3 letters) in Russian and two letters from Chelyabinsk in Ukrainian. But received no replies.
As for human rights, I must say that Russia is not the country where they are respected. This was repeatedly stated to me during the investigation. I have felt it myself. Until the end of the investigation, I did not even think of taking any action in defense of myself and my rights. I made a promise to behave accordingly in return for not touching my family.
Therefore, I refused the services of lawyers without any hesitation.
At the end of the investigation in Chelyabinsk, I was also provided with a lawyer.
I don't remember his last name. He was present at giving me the opportunity to get acquainted with the materials of the case, which I refused, because I did not see the point in reading all this nonsense.
September 29, 2015 N. A. Karpyuk.
Here is such a document. Very important.
Karpyuk does not explain what kind of negotiations he was going to Moscow for, with whom exactly from the officials in the presidential administration of Russia he was going to meet.
It is obvious that his detention and arrest were planned in advance by the Russian special services. After recent statements by Alexander Bastrykin that Prime Minister Yatsenyuk fought in Chechnya in 1994, it is clear why the special services needed Karpyuk, whose weaknesses (wife and son) were known in advance to those who planned his arrest.
Karpyuk's story is also important because it once again shows the technology used by the special services to construct the criminal cases they need. Everything is foreseen and seems to be done according to well-known patterns: detention, administrative arrest, accusation, torture, psychological pressure, "frank" confession, transfer, detention in "solitary", without lawyers and without contact with relatives. And so for almost two years.
And now - the court.
Mykola Karpyuk faces 20 years of strict regime.
* - the activity of the organization is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation
