The New Year By Grigory Pasko, journalist 2008 – the Year of the Yellow (Golden) Rat – will be met by many political prisoners of contemporary Russia in “red” colonies, that is ones that are not under control of the law, but rather the arbitrary tyranny of the administration. For many, this is their first year in camp. But no doubt not their last – not as long as the current president and his accomplices in crime remain in power. What is it like over there, on the other side of the barbed wire, to meet the New Year? I met this holiday behind bars four times. There’s a bit written about this in my book «We sing to the deaf» («Мы поем глухим», 2000, St. Petersburg, «Blitz» publishing house). On the eve of the “old” New Year (yes, we have such a holiday as well in Russia), I offer readers of the blog certain prison notes. They are of pressing concern for many of my countrymen. Mikhail Khodorkovsky – one of the new political prisoners of Russia (photo from the Grigory Pasko archive)