For hours she bounces potatoes. But she can’t get it right. They won’t go through the gap. She leans back against the wall, slides down onto the floor and buries her head between her knees.
19th October
Most of my GP goodies bag has gone between the 3 of us. Bit miffed the cheese went so quickly as I was quite keen on that. Still, it’s all share and share alike which keeps the cell on an even keel. One of the guards seems to be walking round with a massive wooden mallet. It’s so big it’s comical. Boris + I get the giggles when we see him. At 18:30 tonight will be exactly 1 calendar month since arrest by FSB Spetsnaz.
Just made a birthday card for Boris. He turned 22 today. He’s up for manslaughter and looking at 8–12 years. It’s one of the saddest most forlorn cards I think I’ve ever written. There was not a single card or letter for him all day. He is never ever getting out of this system. You can just tell it a mile off.
20th October
Reading a book on my bed (approx. 5pm) when I heard Phil’s voice very loud through the hatch of his cell door. He was ranting about being promised his phone call and having waited 3 weeks for it. I could just make out them fobbing him off so I slammed the door of 320 and shouted for them to give him his feckin phone call. He sounded really really upset so I started really slamming the door. The whole hall reverberated. Eventually Phil swore at them saying no one understood a word he was asking. I think he’s at a really low point right now. 3 really young kids, his dad recently died. Poor fucker.
21st October
Still trying to establish what that huge mallet is for. The guards turn up each morning with it but God knows how you’d have room to swing it in a cell. I’m still greeting them with a brisk Good Morning when the cell door opens and we get marched outside for inspection. Yuri says I’m starting to look thin and a bit gaunt. Well there’s a surprise! I like him though. He has got a real spark of life in him. He was so dumbfounded when I beat him at chess last night.
By now all the crew have radios and televisions in their cells. The radio plays soft rock classics, nothing to stir the blood, but the jingle soon feels familiar, even comforting – a glockenspiel playing the first few bars of ‘Midnight in Moscow’ by Kenny Ball. On their TV sets they watch euronews and the music channels, and sometimes Russian state TV.
There are three kinds of programmes. Documentaries about the FSB raiding someone, films about the FSB raiding someone, and soap operas about the FSB raiding someone. Frank sits for hours staring at the screen, flicking from channel to channel, watching uniformed officers bashing down doors in towns and cities across Russia, just like a young Vladimir Putin once did. He sees what’s happening here. It’s being reinforced all the time, how there are bad people out there and the state will protect you.
Camila is watching euronews when she sees video footage of the protest at the Prirazlomnaya. The voiceover is in Russian and she can hear the word ‘hooliganski’ repeated over and over. Then, rolling across the bottom of the screen in English, she sees the news ticker.
Camila’s heart jumps. She grabs her spoon and drops onto her knees in front of the radiator pipe. In the cell next door Alex is woken by manic tapping. Sini hears it too.
Camila: turn on euronews
Alex: why?
Camila: turn on euronews
Alex: wow
Camila: piracy dropped
Alex: means they can’t keep us in here
Camila: amazing
Alex: no reason to keep us in here
Sini: careful don’t get hopes up now charged with hooliganism
Alex: sure?
Sini: hooliganski means hooligan
Alex: they can’t hold us in here for that
Sini: they can
Alex: not as bad as piracy
Sini: could be worse
For a moment Alex and Camila thought they were getting out, but soon enough Sini convinces them this could actually be worse. They’re moving from the pantomime charge of piracy to something that might stand up in the court of global public opinion. Alex wraps herself in her purple ski jacket and hugs herself.
Across SIZO-1 the activists are reaching the same conclusion. That night the road buzzes with discussion and analysis. Hooliganism carries seven years in jail. Nearly everybody thinks the change of charge is bad news. They fear they’re being set up to get screwed by the Russian courts. Phil sits down on his bunk and writes an open letter, and the next morning he hands it to Mr Babinski.
Why I’m not a hooligan, by Phil Ball, aged 42½…
Now we, the ‘Arctic 30’, face the charge of hooliganism. At first, it sounds only a bit more serious than naughty rascal or cheeky monkey. Something must be lost in the translation because seven years in prison seems a bit harsh. My sons, aged seven and nine, will be teenagers and my little girl will have forgotten who I am if I get out of here in seven years. Pretty unfunny too.
The small print of the charge says that hooliganism is a ‘gross violation of public order’ and ‘in contempt of society’. Well, hang on just a moment: ‘contempt of society’? I give blood; volunteer at my local scout group; pick up dog poo off the playing field and I don’t have a dog; went to court as a witness to two violent crimes; helped fight a supermarket development; have taught kids to make award-winning films; have worked on projects for the Stop Aids foundation and the RSPB [Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]; invested £1,000 of my own money to help set up a community wind farm co-operative; and once saved and hand-reared a pigeon called Gerald. But the biggest thing I’ve done in support and protection of society? Coming 180 nautical miles north of the Arctic Circle to protest against Arctic oil drilling, against the greedy mega-rich oil companies Gazprom, Shell and others that do not listen to the warnings about oil spills, runaway climate change, hurricanes, droughts, floods and famines, and continue to make a fortune at the expense of and ‘in contempt of’ the societies of our children and grandchildren.
Hooliganism doesn’t even come close to what they are guilty of. So, no, I’m not a pirate and I’m not a hooligan. OK? Can I come home now?
Phil Ball – father of three cheeky monkeys and one of the Arctic 30
24th October
Just saw local news item informing that piracy law has been dropped but replaced with hooliganism law that covers 0–7 years as opposed to 10–15 for piracy. Shortly after that our cell had a visit from 9 officers, 1 interpreter and a prosecutor. They claimed my pictures of Nell, Joe, Pluto and Free Frank protest contravened several sections of the prison code as they had been stuck on the wall by my bed. There was a tense stand-off as they repeated the infringements and I was surrounded by 9 screws with Boris and Yuri standing behind me. It was a potentially dangerous moment where I could feel my emotions rising fast. I eventually bowed my head and agreed. They slowly walked out one by one without saying a word. It was awful. I looked back up at Nell and Joe and slowly climbed onto my bunk and removed them with as much care as possible to avoid damage. It was quiet. Boris and Yuri looked down at the floor. Then thank God Yuri looked at me very closely and said, ‘Frank, game chess??’ He read the situation perfectly. Not forgetting that he is looking at 5–7 years inside.