Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! Not for the first time you have been misinformed.

October 1, 2015

34653464At a meeting of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, President Vladimir Putin said of Andrei Pivovarov, (released on Monday from remand prison on bail): “He paid money to hack into a database, this is a bribe. Police officer Alexei Nikonorov has confessed to accepting the money and providing access to the database.”

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

Not for the first time you have been misinformed. As you know, our justice system is the best in the world and the decision as to whether the accused is guilty or not is taken in a fair trial, rather than by you (formally, at least). It is unfortunate that both you and the courts seem to have forgotten about this some time ago.

But back to the people who have misinformed you. Andrei Pivovarov did not hack into a database and certainly neither modified nor copied it (as he is accused of doing by the investigating officers). He turned to the police after consulting a handwriting specialist because he was worried that people collecting signatures in Kostroma had been acting improperly. This is not against the law.

As for the other crimes of which he stands accused, Pivovarov was initially charged with “using police time to try and undermine the authority of a state body.” When it became apparent that holding someone on remand for 60 days for this kind of charge was strange, to say the least, then, as usually happens in Russia, Vladimir Ivanovich Markin and his investigating officers started trying to use the media to dream up fresh charges.

Needless to say, neither Police Officer Nikonorov, who is today under house arrest, nor Andrei Pivovarov, the head of the Petersburg branch of RPR-PARNAS, has admitted any such thing.

Now, when the investigation hasn’t managed to back up its words with any proof, it brings you in on side to exert pressure on the court.

This can’t be right. After all, you are the head of state, not a lobbyist for the Russian Investigative Committee.

Thank you

Marina Baronova

Coordinator, Open Russia

Video: President Putin initially seems to have a problem remembering either the name of the accused or where he is from. Then he says that, “as I understand, Mr Pivovarov handed over money to a police officer in order to gain access to an Interior Ministry database. Let’s look at this calmly. The police officer [Nikonorov] has confessed to accepting the money and providing access to the police database.”