Yuliya Lynch
Perm, Russia
Perm Regional Assistance Center
Just before I started to write my blog, the woman walked in the door to our center. She was an average woman in her late 40s, well dressed, but the sadness and the desperation in her eyes was too hard to ignore.
She stared. Her son was convicted of a rape and sentenced to the 9 years of a jail time. She started to cry. She was very sincere and I can tell that she was sure that her son did not force women to have sex.
Her son is 23 years old. Not sure about the details, but I will tell what I know. Her son and a couple of his friends invited two or more prostitutes to the house in suburbs. They had sex. As a client described, the girls asked the men to pay 2 million rubles ($71, 421) for them not to press charges. The client doesn’t have the money and could not afford to pay the price for the “freedom.” The girls drop the price at the court day to the 1.5 million rubles, but it is still was too high for the client. Well, the client’s son went to trail. During the court hearing, it was decided that he is guilty and must be sentenced to a jail time.
As his mother said, the authorities did not have the results of the expertise, semen match, or any material evidence. The “victims” did not have any bruises. It was no signs of a fight..anywhere. Not even under the nails of the “victims.” You may ask then: “Why would the government put a young men to jail with no evidence and how can this happen?” It is Russia.. anything possible, I would say. The client said that the “girls” had something to do with the way the police treated her son.
In addition to all said, the client claimed that there were a lot of false reports that police wrote. For example, the police officer said that the house, where everything happened was a two story house, but it was only one floor house. Or, that her son has two children. He doesn’t. The facts are very easy to prove and the client has all the prove. What is the problem then? No one listens. She doesn’t have money to bribe the police or to hire a good lawyer. That’s how it is done here.
Here is more. The client told us that on the court day the judge announced that her son is sentenced to 6 years. Then the judge asked if the defendant want to say anything. He said: “I am innocent”. The judge then added: “Son, you said three words, you will be sentenced to three more years”. His total sentence time is now 9 years of 10 maximum for this crime by the law.
The client tried to appeal the decision, but the judge would not even consider the appeal. It is illegal. They wouldn’t even accept her paperwork.
This woman came to the center because she is desperate. She doesn’t know what to do, where to go. She has no one. No one cares.
I understand that you may ask: “Don’t you think that her son may be guilty?” Yes, it is possible. But, if you would see what I saw and hear what I heard, you would not ask. His mother not only has a love for her child, but she knows the situation form the inside as the “victims” and police tried to get money out of her. She is the one, who wrote to the court and got rejected without money.
The center agreed to look at her documents and if everything that she described is true..we are going to fight. I am personally ready to attack..
I will write more about the situation as I will have more information. I hope this post wasn’t too emotional. It is the first time I am writing a blog, so I hope I am on the right track.