RFE/RL: A source in
the Interior Ministry has been cited as saying the investigation
is essentially completed and that charges of contraband will
be brought against you. It also says you are located on U.S.
territory and have failed to appear for questioning despite
numerous summons. Is this true?
Manana Aslamazyan: I haven't
received any summons. I know that my attorney spoke with the investigator
once. He was told that I was required to appear for questioning,
and reasonably replied that I'm not in Russia. I'm not in the United
States; I'm currently in Paris. I sent a letter to the investigative
committee that says where I am and how to contact me.
RFE/RL: Smuggling contraband
sounds like a serious charge.
Aslamazyan: According to
Part 1 of Article 188 of the Penal Code, the charges are punishable
by a fine, the confiscation of all funds transported, probation,
or a prison sentence of one to five years. I know all of this now,
having familiarized myself with it. I'm absolutely certain that
my guilt is negligible.
Recently there was a Supreme Court decree
-- if I understand it correctly -- defining contraband as the discrepancy
between funds authorized but not declared, and the actual amount
of transported funds. By this standard, my entire contraband consists
of about $2,000. It's clear that I will have to accept some punishment,
but it should be minimal. I assume that it will be a fine.
RFE/RL: Your letter of resignation
from the Educated Media Foundation was quite heartfelt. Are you
sad to leave a position you've held for 10 years?
Aslamazyan: I think that
there will be some kind of a happy ending. But I have to keep going
and make a living. I suspect that it will be difficult for me to
find work in Russia if the foundation shuts down, given my current
public image. So I decided to take advantage of an offer to work
at an international organization. If we manage to preserve the foundation,
I'll be happy to return to it.
RFE/RL: Where will you be
working?
Aslamazyan: It's an international
social organization called Internews Network. It has representatives
in different parts of the world. I'll be a consultant for different
projects in different countries.
RFE/RL: Can you explain
how what appears to be a relatively minor offense escalated into
a campaign that brought about the closure of Educated Media?
Aslamazyan: It seems that
there's a common attitude of suspicion toward nonprofit organizations
financed abroad. We fell victim to this attitude. But we clearly
worked within the legal structure of the Russian Federation, and
we were extremely careful and accurate with all our documents and
the registration of our funding.
All the international resources we received
and spent were received with the authorization of the Russian government,
and went through special government commissions that exempt these
resources from taxation. They certainly knew the nature of our work.
We kept regular records. All of them have been filed with these
commissions. It seems to me that they're simply mistaken. I want
to think that some groundless suspicion arose. It's a mistake, and
it will soon be resolved.
RFE/RL: Do you ever suspect
that the steps taken against your foundation are meant to frighten
people working in the civil-society sector?
Aslamazyan: I don't think
that this would be useful for us. Civil society is a society with
different points of view, in which citizens trust their government
and the government trusts its citizens. Civil society is a society
in which there has to be a strong media that both the government
and the people trust. This is what we were working on. So from this
point of view, I don't think that what is happening around us is
sensible or effective for the country.
Concerning what frightens me, when you read
endless reports in newspapers about a man jailed for giving a mechanic
a 100-ruble bribe just because he happened to fall into the middle
of a campaign to clean up the ranks of the Government Automobile
Inspection, then you start to wonder if they're making an example
of you. So I'm scared. I've been working for a long time, and I've
always had a flawless reputation. I don't want to become an example.
RFE/RL: What is stronger
in Russia, the government or the people?
Aslamazyan: The governmental
apparatus is certainly getting stronger; everyone is talking about
it. Unfortunately, I'd say the citizens are undermotivated. They
take offense, they feel bad, but they never do anything to help
one another. This failure to take initiative is a very sad feature
of our contemporary society. It touches everything: homeless children
as well as homeless dogs, trees collapsed around houses, everything
in the world. I’m not taking about political things, I’m
talking about failure to take initiative in the most ordinary sense
of the word. The government is obviously stronger. But I think it
would be wiser if it trusted its citizens more.
