In late September, we reported how a school classmate of imprisoned ex-YUKOS lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina had written a letter to president Dmitry Medvedev asking him to show mercy and grant a pardon to her friend, who had recently been denied parole even though she was eligible for it under Russian law, and who was at that time seven months pregnant. After this letter had become public, a remarkable grassroots internet petition campaign started up in Russia, which has so far collected nearly 90,000 signatures in support of Bakhmina’s release. And Bakhmina herself, who remains behind bars, has recently given birth to a baby girl. But what happened to the original letter from the classmate? In Russia’s sometimes stifling bureaucratic system, all letters officially sent to a government official require an official response. Well, the wait is over, but the response was quite unusual to say the least. Here is our exclusive translation of a piece that has just appeared on the website «Izbrannoye», which purports to present “The logic of the main events in Russia and the world”. Unfortunately, there’s not much logic here…

izbrannoye
2 December
D. A. Medvedev, it turns out, is called A.A.Malkov
To one letter in support of Svetlana Bakhmina an answer has been received. To the rest – no
01.12.2008 19:08

Svetlana Bakhmina’s classmate Olga Kalashnikova (Bogdanova), who had written to president Medvedev a letter with a request to pardon the former YUKOS lawyer, has received an official reply. The reply has mystified Bakhmina’s classmate. She explained, why.