Ben Stewart - Don't Trust, Don't Fear, Don't Beg

‘Phil! Hey, Phil, you there?’

‘Yeah, I’m here. Still fucking here.’

‘You see the TV last night?’

‘No, what?’

‘That footage you shot. It was all over Russian TV.’

‘What footage?’

‘Of the raid on the ship.’

Phil stops walking. ‘Seriously?’

‘All over the news.’

Elation surges through his body. He feels it washing over him, endorphins exploding in his brain. He jumps up and slaps the wall. ‘Yeeees!’

‘Didn’t you see it?’

‘My cellmate doesn’t let me watch the news. He’s into these crappy soap operas. Jesus, I missed the world premiere of my own fucking film.’

‘It was amazing. Soldiers coming down the rope, guns, me getting roughed up. I’m on TV getting pushed over. Seriously, they look like thugs.’

‘Amazing.’

‘Phil, how did you do it? Last I heard, you’d shoved it in the extractor fan in the galley.’

Phil looks up. Through the wire mesh he can see the guard patrolling on the bridge above. Around him he can hear shouted conversations in Russian.

‘Come on, Phil. How did you do it?’

‘You know what, Frank. When we get out of this place you can buy me a beer and I’ll tell you.’

Then, before the day is out, Putin’s own Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, led by Mikhail Fedotov, announces it has written to the head of the Investigative Committee offering to act as guarantors for the Arctic 30 if they are released on bail. It’s the same offer that Kumi Naidoo made, but this time it’s coming from someone inside the Kremlin.

6th November

The IMO Tribunal [International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea] meets today. They are supposed to have a decision by the 21st. That’s two weeks. I asked if there was any chance the court would hold us over for another 60 days… and [the lawyer] Alexandre de Moscow said he EXPECTED IT. Boy he is changing his tune! He now says Russia will want to think about the ruling for at least a month. So there goes Thanksgiving, and probably Christmas. And I went right down the tubes. Sounds like we will catch a two day train to St Pete on Saturday. If we could all be together in one car on the train, it would be wonderful. But it does not seem likely at the moment. Came back with JB [New Zealander Jon Beauchamp] & Marco Polo [Kruso]. I got left in a holding cell again for an hour. At least I was alone. I wonder what I did to piss off the front gate guards. We were on the news tonight. I wonder what it was?

The Kremlin appears contemptuous of the ITLOS legal case. Even if it rules against Russia there’s no guarantee the order to release them won’t just be ignored. And anyway, the Arctic 30 are far more concerned by the imminent move to St Petersburg. They’ve been told by their lawyers that they’ll be split up. Most of the men will be held in Kresty, some of them will go to another prison and the women will be held at the all-female St Petersburg SIZO-5. And still nobody can tell them when the move will happen, how they’ll be transported and, most importantly, why. Even the guards ask the activists the same questions. Of course everybody has a theory, especially their Russian cellmates.

‘They’re getting ready to release you, but they want to sweeten you up first, get you out of this shithole, make sure none of you get beaten up, no black eyes for the cameras.’

‘I guess they’re getting ready to really screw you, send you down for years, put you in a real prison.’

‘It’s because the trial is going to start. They’re going to have a trial and they want it in a big city, big lights, big show.’

The activists join in the speculation – nothing can stop them doing that – but they also know not to believe anything until it happens.

Don’t Trust Don’t Fear Don’t Beg.

The women are worried that contact with the others will be restricted in St Petersburg. At SIZO-1 during the daily walks they’re able to communicate with their friends. It’s the best part of the day, shouting over the walls in those dark and cramped boxes and being able to hear the voices of the others coming back. But what if they can’t talk to each other in St Petersburg? What if they’re alone?

9th November

Quiet day. Exercise pit 7. Then around 4.30pm, the jail rights lady came for a visit. She had a one page typed paper on how to survive the move to St Pete. She said 90 or 95% chance we will go in plane or passenger train. But if we go by prisoner train, then we are fucked. The prisoner train takes 2 to 3 days. There are cells with four bunks in them, but they often put 20 prisoners in them. And they don’t let you out to go to the bathroom. I am praying…

10th November

Just got confirmed by guard + doctor that transport will be all 30 of us and tomorrow. I can tell Boris is a bit upset with my departure. I guess I must have brought a distinct change and foreign flavour to the cell for the last 42 days. He enjoyed it I’m sure. For Boris time just drifts by, more or less like his life will.

What awaits us in St P and how long we’ll be there is the next venture.

Frank is emptying hoarded Valium tablets into the palm of his hand, wondering how the hell he’ll smuggle them into Kresty. The guards have just come round saying the move is happening tonight. He has to pack.

After thinking for a while he starts feeding the pills into the lining of his jacket.

‘No, no, no,’ says Yuri. ‘Bad, Frank, bad. They search. You go to kartser in Kresty. No no, put here.’

And Yuri points at a little flap in Frank’s trousers – a tiny pocket inside another pocket just above his knee.

‘Here. Better.’

Across the prison the activists are packing their bags, saying goodbye to their cellmates and writing final letters to friends and family, unsure if they’ll be able to communicate from St Petersburg, hoping Mr Babinski can get their messages to their loved ones despite Popov’s crackdown.

It’s 4 a.m. The guard is waiting at the open door. Time for Frank to say goodbye. He turns around and shakes his cellmates’ hands.

‘Boris, Yuri, thank you.’

‘Goodbye my friend Frank.’

‘Good luck in Kresty. We like very much having you here.’

Frank pumps their hands then he thinks, no, this isn’t enough. He goes to hug Boris but the Russian jumps back with a look of panic on his face.

‘Oh, stop being so damn homophobic!’ Frank throws his arms around Boris. Slowly the Russian raises his hands and pats Frank on the back. ‘Thank you,’ says Frank. ‘Thank you for welcoming me to your home. I’ll never forget how you treated me here. Never.’

Then Frank hugs Yuri. ‘Thank you for what you did for me. You taught me so much. I was very lucky to be put in with you.’

‘Thank you my friend,’ says Yuri, whose face is buried in Frank’s shoulder. ‘We will miss you.’

The activists are taken out floor by floor. For the last time they cross the yard. The lights of SIZO-1 are blazing around them. The doroga is cooking, the prison is living, it’s the same scene they faced when they arrived here seven weeks ago. Dima stops and turns around and faces the windows. He lifts a fist into the air and shouts a single word.

‘AUE!’

AUE. Pronounced ah-oo-yeah . It’s an abbreviation, it stands for Arestanskoe Urkaganskoe Edinstvo . Translation: Arrestees Criminal Union, the society of the incarcerated, a banned exclamation to identify yourself with the thieves in their struggle against the stars. A call to non-submission.