Gerasimova Marina Vladimirovna, who was living at the time of her arrest in Samara, was a prominent figure in the Volia party created by Svetlana Peunova (now Svetlana Lada-Rus). On charges of extremism, a political organization was liquidated in the summer of 2016. In parallel, criminal cases were brought against a number of party members; Gerasimova was also charged with fraud. On the federal wanted list today is Peunova herself, accused immediately of two counts.
A little biography
What is known about Gerasimova Marina Vladimirovna? The woman was born in 1962, the date of her birth - July 10. Recently, she worked under the leadership of Svetlana Peunova at the Academy of Development. At first, the organization was known as a medical center, where folk healing methods were applied. The townspeople remember it under the name "Path to the Sun." After defending a dissertation on the topic related to the prevention of socially-stressful disorders, Svetlana Peunova established the ANO, which is known as the Academy of Development of Svetlana Peunova (2007).
Since 2003, she actively tried to realize her political ambitions, self-nominating in the State Duma elections, to the post of mayor of Togliatti, etc. Having not received the necessary support from the townspeople, Peunova founded the Volia party in 2008, the representatives of which gathered for the first congress from 44 regions. The right hand in a political organization is Marina Gerasimova, who heads the Political Council.
Criminal prosecution
According to the heroine of the article, one of the employees of the Development Academy was preparing to become a mother. Evgenia Grakhova predicted a difficult birth, so she was looking for money to pay for doctors. In 2014, a young woman turned to her colleague for help. That in January 2015 lent 900 thousand rubles without any receipt. What is Marina Gerasimova accused of after a while?
The fact that she actually did not give any money to Grakhova, and in November 2015, she fraudulently seized her Nissan Qashqai car, forcing, under psychological pressure, to write a receipt saying that she was transferring the car on account of debt. It was sold for 700 thousand, so in December Gerasimova filed a civil lawsuit in the court of Novokuybyshevsk with a request to recover the remaining 200 thousand rubles from Evgenia Grakhova.
But in February 2016, CPE employees came to the apartment of Gerasimova herself with a search. She was not only charged with fraud, but also selected a preventive measure - arrest.
Was there a debt?
The charge against Gerasimova is based solely on the testimony of Grakhova. There is an expert opinion in the case according to which the receipt by the young woman was really written in a state of emotional depression. According to the prosecution, Yevgeny Grakhova was convinced that family well-being, the birth of a child, the successful outcome of her mother’s operation were ensured by the “energy impact” of Svetlana Peunova, whom she would pay 900 thousand rubles. On account of the payment, the young woman issued a power of attorney for her car, but literally immediately began to dispute the deal by contacting law enforcement agencies.
Looking ahead, it should be said that in the summer of 2017, the Novokuybyshevsk city court rejected Gerasimova’s civil claim against Grakhova about the return of the missing 200 thousand, without recognizing the fact of the loan. The decision will be based on the existing expert opinion and the absence of witnesses present during the transfer of the indicated amount.
Why the MTP considers Gerasimova a political prisoner
Even if the words of Yevgenia Grakhova are true, it is surprising that the case of Marina Gerasimova is conducted by the CPE (Samara branch), who are engaged in the fight against extremism. Despite the poor health of her comrade Peunova (hypertensive crisis, gastrointestinal problems), the court makes a decision on the measure of restraint as an arrest. Since February 20, a woman has been in jail for four months. Moreover, she was transferred to Syzran, from where she was constantly delivered for confrontations and other events to Samara, although the three- and four-hour journeys were difficult for her because of her health condition.
Employees of the CPE have repeatedly offered the arrested woman cooperation with the investigation, by which they meant giving evidence against Svetlana Peunova. Otherwise, they threatened to worsen the conditions of detention, which was done in reality. The political subtext of the criminal case is visible to the naked eye. There is a desire to stop the opposition of the party organizing pickets and rallies against the current government. Not the least role was played by a film posted on the Internet ("Deceived Russia"), which discredited state policy.
The decision to liquidate a party that was previously officially registered in August 2016 is a kind of precedent, for there has never been anything like this in Russian history.
Party "Will"
In 2008, more than 300 people gathered for the first congress in Samara, but later, when Peunova was nominated for the presidency (2012) and the governor of the region (2016), party members were unable to collect the required number of signatures from the population. In 2016, it was assumed that the party would run for the State Duma, with Marina Gerasimova to stand at the head of the elected headquarters. The decision to liquidate a political organization violated the leaders' plans.
The extremist activity of "Freedom" was recognized for distributing prohibited materials. Two leaflets were recognized as such. One is about distrust of the authorities, the other is a direct appeal to the military. In addition, in the Oryol region at the party’s headquarters, they found a book by the banned author Boris Mironov.
According to scientists, the phenomenon of Peunova is that a woman realizes her political ambitions with the help of psychological influence on people. Behind her are people who are weak and not very happy. However, the MTP believes that from the very founding of a political organization, pressure on it by the security forces is obvious. The Volia party was persecuted in Khabarovsk, Vologda, and Vladimir. Not supporting her programs, the MTP is forced to admit that the measures applied to Marina Gerasimova do not correspond to the gravity of the crime imputed to her.
What today?
The Neftegorsky court continues to consider the case of Marina Gerasimova. It obeys in closed mode. More than 20 thousand signatures were collected in order to achieve an open process. Marina Gerasimova keeps a diary of a political prisoner, where she describes every day of her life.
I immediately recall the analogy - for billions of dollars of money, people are under house arrest, and the amount of 900 thousand forced law enforcement officers to put the person in jail, although there is no conclusive evidence in the case of the suspect's guilt. In the course of their own investigation, associates of Peunova found that Grakhova was a relative of the head of Novikombank, who had a conflict with Volya. The case is under the control of the Prosecutor General and I hope that a fair decision will be made on it.