Chess Champ Garry Kasparov: ‘They Were Trying to Break My Leg’ Aug 17, 2012 6:32 PM EDT
The chess champion and Russian opposition leader was beaten and
arrested Friday after showing up at the sentencing of anti-Putin punk
band Pussy Riot. He tells Eli Lake about the horrific ordeal.
When
chess grand champion and Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov
showed up Friday at the sentencing of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, he
didn’t expect to spend the next five hours in the custody of the Moscow
police, recovering from a severe beating.
Now,
he says, after being punched in the genitals, thrown in a van and
beaten by several police, Kasparov says the police have accused him of
biting one of them—an allegation he denies. “They act like animals and
they accuse me of biting them,” Kasparov told the
Daily Beast in
his first interview since being arrested. “Can you imagine what it means
to bite someone when you are being beaten? There should be blood on my
face. It is beyond any common sense.”
Kasparov was one of several Russian opposition leaders to rally in support of the female punk band known as
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The three members of the band were sentenced to two years in prison for
“hooliganism” after performing a song at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ
the Saviour, in which they asked the Virgin Mary to expel President
Vladimir Putin from the Kremlin. Their trial has attracted worldwide
attention, with stars like Paul McCartney and Madonna appealing to the
Kremlin to drop the charges.
Kasparov
said he went to the trial to show his support for Pussy Riot. While he
was waiting for the trial to start, he said, he was giving interviews in
the area outside the court cordoned off for reporters and activists. At
one point, he said, one of the reporters motioned him to come with him
into the courtroom. He said as soon as he walked outside the
cordoned-off area, he was rushed by seven or eight police officers.
Andrey Smirnov, AFP / Getty Images
“At
first I asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’” Kasparov said. “Then I became
annoyed. I said I want to get out of here.” He said that’s when the
police started beating him. “I remember one strong hit between the legs,
then they tried to bring me in the bus, and they started carrying me
and beating me. When that happens, you resist,” Kasparov said. “They
were trying to break my leg.”
The
police officers, Kasparov said, began to carry his limp body into a van
with others whom they had arrested. The former chess champion said he
remembered screaming in agony. “I remember inside the van they threw me
to the floor,” he said. “Then they took my right leg, they push the leg
to the ceiling. I now have problems with the right side of the back.”
Kasparov said when he was in the van, the police officers continued to
beat him. He says the only witnesses were other people the police had
arrested.
“We’ve been saying Putin is a dictator for years who doesn’t care about the law. Today, he proved it.”
At
the station, Kasparov said, he was confronted by officers who told him
he wouldn’t be charged. But he said he later saw a police report
accusing him of instigating the violence and organizing a riot outside
the courtroom. “Why the hell did you say I was shouting or trying to
organize this, you saw what happened?” he said he asked the police
officers. “They wouldn’t look in my eyes.”
After
nearly five hours in the police station, Kasparov was taken to a nearby
hospital, where staff said the x-ray machine was broken. Speaking late
Friday from his home in Moscow, Kasparov said he intended to press
charges against the police and was collecting video of how he was beaten
before being dragged into the police van.
Since
news of his arrest, Kasparov said he had received warm messages of
solidarity from his friends and supporters. He also said he received
word from U.S. ambassador Michael McFaul who told him the U.S. embassy
in Moscow was monitoring his case and the incident. McFaul couldn’t be
reached late Friday for comment, and a spokeswoman for the State
Department declined to comment on the incident.
For
Kasparov, his arrest and the trial of Pussy Riot “just shows that
Russia has nothing to do with the rule of law.” He added, “We’ve been
saying Putin is a dictator for years who doesn’t care about the law.
Today, he proved it.”
Garry Kasparov is the
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] of the Human Rights Foundation’s International Council.
Update 1: This appeared on Garry kasparov’s facebook page, and somewhat differs from initial mainstream media reports:
“Garry
Kasparov has just been arrested outside the Moscow courthouse where the
Pussy Riot trial is taking place. He was not there to protest, simply
to attend, and the police cornered him and dragged him into the police
van. This photo shows the police assaulting him inside the van.Update 2: Yuri Timofeyev published this photo in Twitter with comment “Kasparov was highly surprised that he is being detained.”
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Update 3: Kasparov beaten according to his Twitter editorsQuote: “We spoke to Kasparov at police station. Was beaten but is ok.
Isn’t sure what next step is. Cops waiting for orders from above.”
Quote 2: “Garry was talking with journalists when the police pushed in to drag him away. Not protesting”
Update 4: Interfax managed to speak to Kasparov at
15:00 CET, he said. “At first I did not realize why they arrested me – I
was giving interview to a journalist. But then they put me in a van and
brutally beat me.”
Update 5: During his arrest Kasparov has bitten the
hand of a major police officer. The policeman has gone for official
medical confirmation of the incident.
Update 6: No official charges have been pressed against Kasparov yet. News on that topic are expected today.
Update 7: After the two year sentence of Pussy Riot
has claimed the full media attention for the past hour, information on
Kasparov starts coming again. According to Kommersant, Garry Kasparov
denies the having bitten a policeman. The reportedly bitten policeman is
still in hospital awaiting medical confirmation. So far 49 people have
been detained from the 400 protestors.
Update 8: The police have confirmed that an officer
has been bitten by Kasparov. The officer suffered injuries on the left
hand that have been certified by the medical staff. Now the local
Interior Department is preparing papers against Garry Kasparov,
supposedly for aggression against the police.
Developing story,
stay tuned for updates on Garry Kasparov’s arrest More about Pussy Riot
Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk-rock collective that stages
politically provocative impromptu performances in Moscow on Russia’s
current political life.
In March 2012, during an improvised and unauthorized concert in
Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, three women from the band were
arrested and charged with ‘hooliganism’ and their trial began in late
July. The band members have gained sympathy both within Russia and
internationally, due to allegations of harsh treatment while in custody
and a risk of a possible seven-year jail sentence, and have also been
criticized in Russia for offending the feelings of religious people.
Alexei Nikiforov, a federal prosecutor, has demanded prison for the trio
because they ‘abused God’. Pussy Riot’s lawyers said that the
circumstances of the case have revived the Soviet-era tradition of the
show trial.
On February 21, 2012, as a part of a protest movement against the
re-election of Vladimir Putin, three women from the group came to the
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour of the Russian Orthodox Church in
Moscow, crossed themselves, bowed to the altar, and began to perform a
song. After less than one minute, they were escorted outside the
building by guards. The film of the performance was later used to create
a video clip for the song.
In the song, the group asked the “Theotokos” (Mother of God, i.e. the
Virgin Mary) (rus. Богородица Bogoroditsa) to “drive Putin away”. The
song also describes the Russian Patriarch, Kirill I of Moscow, as
someone who believes in Putin rather than in God. Kirill showed open
support for Putin as a candidate before the presidential election.
Today, three members of the band were convicted of hooliganism
motivated by religious hatred, over a protest in a cathedral. Kasparov
was among the 400 protestors and arrested while confronting the police.
