{"id":3874,"date":"2019-07-11T19:14:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T16:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rupression.com\/?p=3874"},"modified":"2019-07-16T19:24:28","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T16:24:28","slug":"guided-tour-of-a-torture-chamber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rupression.com\/en\/2019\/07\/11\/guided-tour-of-a-torture-chamber\/","title":{"rendered":"Guided Tour of a Torture Chamber"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Words Have Been Recorded Correctly<\/em>, an art exhibition in solidarity with imprisoned anarchists and antifascists, took place July 5\u20137, 2019, at Pushkinskaya 10 Art Center in Petersburg.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The show was sad and daring. During the three days it was up, it was visited by both regular cops and the \u201canti-extremism\u201d police from Center \u201cE\u201d [known in Russia as eshniki or \u201ceeniks\u201d<\/em>].<\/p>\n

Our group {rodina} [\u201cmotherland<\/em>\u201c] did a performance, and there were concerts and discussions as well. I also had a piece in the show, entitled just one big torture chamber<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I really liked how Jenya [Kulakova]<\/a> talked about it simply and calmly during her guided tours of the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the latest surveys by Levada Center, ten percent of Russians have been tortured<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

True, it\u2019s a really simple figure, but when I hear it I want to hear more figures. What percentage of Russians have tortured someone? What percentage of Russians have ordered someone tortured? What percentage of Russians said nothing although they knew someone was being tortured? What percentage of Russians share a home with people who torture other people at work? Do torturers beat their wives, children, and elderly parents?<\/p>\n

At first, I wanted to fashion Russia from a single piece of cardboard, but then I realized I had no sense of how I could unify the country except with borders, frontier guards, and barbed wire. I know tons of different Russias. I know academic Russia and literary Russia. I know the Russia of forests and mushrooms. I know the Russia of poor people and factories. I know the elegant Russia of rich people. All of these Russias have one thing in common: the violence of torture and the fear of torture. So, I assembled the map from scraps of cardboard.<\/p>\n

\"torture-2\"Ms. Apahoncich writing the names of Ukrainian and Crimean political prisoners imprisoned in Russian jails and prisons on the wall below a hand-drawn map of occupied Crimea. Photo courtesy of Ms. Apahonchich<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know what to do with Crimea. I couldn\u2019t include it since I don\u2019t consider its presence on a map of Russia legal, but I also had no choice but to include it because people are tortured there as well, and the people doing the torturing have Russian passports. So, I drew Crimea on the wall in pencil and wrote a list of Ukrainian political prisoners under it. The list was terrifyingly long.<\/p>\n

I spelled the word \u201ctorture chamber\u201d as it is pronounced in received Moscow standard [pytoshnaya<\/em> instead of pytochnaya<\/em>], although maybe no one speaks that way anymore. I would imagine I don\u2019t need to explain why.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sad piece. If it were carnival now, I would burn it instead of a straw puppet.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Alina for the photographs.<\/p>\n

Translated by the Russian Reader<\/em>. Thanks to Ms. Apahonchich for her permission to translate and publish her post here.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

______________________________________________________<\/p>\n[\u2026]\n

Policemen visited the exhibition at the end of its first day. Witnesses said it was the coolest performance in the show. The soloist was Senior Lieutenant Ruslan Sentemov<\/a> aka Mister Policeman<\/a>. According to people who took part in the protest action Immortal Gulag<\/a>, Sentemov insisted this was how the president obliged them to address him when he was detaining them.<\/p>\n

The phrase turned into a meme, and Sentemov became the target of parodies and epigrams. It is rare when people are detained at protest rallies in Petersburg and he is not involved. In 2017, 561 people were detained during a protest against corruption. All of them were charged with disobeying the lawful demands of a police officer, and in all 561 cases, that officer was Lieutenant Sentemov. Petersburg civil rights activist Dinar Idrisov claimed each of the ensuing 561 court case files contained a copy of Sentemov\u2019s police ID and his handwritten, signed testimony.<\/p>\n

\"words-1\"Ruslan Sentemov (right) and another police officer at My Words Have Been Recorded Correctly<\/em>, July 7, 2019, Pushinskaya 10 Art Center, Petersburg. Photo by Elena Murganova. Courtesy of Novaya Gazeta<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In interviews with the press and when he is on camera, Sentemov likes to maintain the image of a \u201cgood cop.\u201d He was true to this image at Pushkinskaya 10 as well, upsetting activists, who surrounded him and peppered him with questions about why he had come to the exhibition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Russia\u2019s cultural capital. But you, young lady, have a very nasty habit of interrupting people and horning in on the conversation,\u201d he said to one of them.<\/p>\n

Reassuring activists he was in no hurry, Sentemov set about perusing the show. The police officer who was with him photographed each exhibit in turn.<\/p>\n

Jenya Kulakova volunteered to give Sentemov a guided tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are drawings made by Dmitry Pchelintsev<\/a> in the Penza Remand Prison. He was tortured with electricity. Here is a banner with the slogan \u2018The ice under the major\u2019s feet.\u2019 <\/a>Perhaps you are familiar with the music of Yegor Letov and Civil Defense?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps.\u201d<\/p>\n