Case Bitkovs´. Jail.

I put a stamp on the hand (make out one word – VISITA) and offer to wait. A few minutes later there is the one to whom I actually came – Igor packed, former owner and manager SZLK – North-West Timber Company. A few years ago, it was a successful businessman who loved his work and that really did good for the Russian business – producing almost all kinds of paper and paper products.

Two plants that were part of SZLK were advanced in the industry, received prizes, developing … Now Bitkov Igor and his wife Irina declared criminals. And before making any judgments, rulings and judgments. Soon the labels Russian officials have already dubbed Bitkova “fraudsters deliberately dovedshy SZLK to bankruptcy” (quote from the governor of the Kaliningrad region Tsukanov).

The Guatemalan prison Bitkova (Irina and her daughter in custody elsewhere, the prison hospital, but also in the suburbs of Guatemala City) turned out for another reason. Here’s how this cause has formulated a spokesman for the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, Diego Alvarez: “Special Prosecutor’s Office to combat impunity identified them as the people who come into contact with the criminal network that operated at the headquarters of migration and the national register of persons to they were made with false documents birth certificates, identity cards and passports of Guatemala. ” (source –http://ria.ru/world/20150121/1043492385.html#ixzz3hsBamCW8

Translated into Russian, it means that those Guatemalan passport that Bitkova received seven (!) Years ago, the structure, and all the well-known long ago in Guatemala, now, against the background of the next wave of corruption, suddenly become “fraudulent.”

From the press secretary, however, is not clear on what grounds it is the office, the issuance of passports, recognized by the lime? And where is Bitkova? For example, contra – lime. But why, in that case, next to the Bitkova on prison bunks do not sit around a thousand citizens of other countries, as received in the company Guatemalan passport? … Prison at the military base – elite.

This is judging by the contingent of prisoners: former alcalde (mayor of -Our) Antigua; in-law of the current President of Guatemala;head of the Association of Coffee Growers of Guatemala; government officials, prosecutors, police, drug dealers … If judged by the conditions of detention, the place is – some bomzhatnik: a very modest space huddle around a hundred people. Some Russian prison, perhaps even roomier.

But there is no purely Russian senility – a ban on meeting with lawyers, journalists and relatives. And on the phone you can call anywhere and anyone (the same way as in US prisons) and on weekends to meet with relatives within the prison.

On that day, Igor Bitkov waited for him to bring the code son, Vladimir, was born in Guatemala three years ago. Actually, with his son came a difficult story. But about it later. We talked for three hours. More precisely, he said packed, and I listened and asked questions.

Bitkov spoke about the reasons for his arrest in Guatemala and about why and how there was a criminal case against them with his wife there in the distant Russia. He said, in my view, convincing results in the facts and figures, called names .. It so happened that the case in Russia and then in Guatemala – are interrelated.

Do not be the first, there would be no second. It should be noted that information on Bitkova was limited and not always accurate.And sometimes, for example, in the TASS report, explicitly and deliberately inaccurate.So, for example, Tass reported that “Igor, Irina and their daughter Anastasia Bitkova were arrested … in one of the luxury villas in the capital of Guatemala.” At the same time in the picture by the message was the National Palace in Guatemala. In the picture the other media have placed the cathedral in Antigua. What for?

The same day, I had another conversation – at the Russian embassy. Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Russia in Guatemala Nikolai Babich kindly give me half an hour of his precious time. Of course, we discussed the arrest of Russians Bitkova detained in Guatemala. By the way: the other prisoners from Russia to Guatemala there.

From my answer after Babich had become clear that: – Arrest Bitkova – an initiative of the Guatemalan authorities, fighting corruption under the auspices of the International Commission against Impunity UN (CICIG); – Bitkova accused of fraudulently obtaining Guatemalan passports; – A criminal case in Russia, the arrest has nothing to do; – Embassy monitors the observance of the rights of our citizens and give them every support; – I did not immediately come to the prison, because the two months spent on figuring out whether or not they are citizens of the Russian Federation; – New passports they have not yet given, because this is not done quickly; – The statement made by the Ombudsman for Children’s Rights in the Russian Federation, Mr. Astakhov that you need to take away their son Vladimir Bitkova and bring it to the Russian embassy has nothing to do; – Yes, the Ambassador informed that his son Bitkova – Vladimir – a citizen of Guatemala; Yes, Prosecutor General’s Office has asked the Embassy to assist in the extradition Bitkova in Russia; – … And yes – the ambassador informed that Russia and Guatemala is no extradition agreement.

In short, all my questions answered Alekseevskii quickly and willingly. And I would think that we have wonderful staff in a great embassy, ​​if not the stories themselves Bitkova and their advocates that: – Bitkova before the trial has already been called criminals (https://www.newkaliningrad.ru/news/briefs/incidents/5188843-tsukanov-semyu-bitkovykh-obankrotivshuyu-nemanskiy-tsbk-ekstradirovali-v-rf.html ); –

That no aid Bitkova not provided; not issue new passports; the problem with the child is not trying to solve; in preliminary trials strongly accused Bitkova almost all sins, trying to put them in front of the Guatemalan authorities hardened criminals … – Russian banks have hired a group of detectives and the detective certainly played a significant role in the arrest Bitkova … And so on and so forth. Whom to believe? Facts. And they are. Bitkova sit with January 2015.

The prosecution charged them not to. Court was not. Youngest child half months spent in an orphanage, but the parents insisted on registration of patronage familiar citizen of Guatemala. The eldest daughter, whose guilt in the acquisition of the Guatemalan passport did not discern, sick, but still in detention. The investigation in Russia is not moving. Banks, which allegedly owed Bitkova, answer my questions abandoned (except Gazprombank).

Companies that were included in the North-West Timber – Neman Pulp and Kamennogorsk Factory – in fact, ceased to exist. Some experts argue that the reason for all of this – a long-standing and well-known phenomenon called “raiding the credit.” Former employee SZLK Yuriy Murashko, in his book “raiding Credit: how to do it,” writes: “… In fact, everything happens according to the law. Businesses can not return the loans, bankrupt and cease production activity. And lenders, ie banks take their property. Property and equipment.

But it seems that the situation where the factories can not return the loans, are often created on purpose. Artificially “. The author gives examples of such situations: JSC “Amurmetal” Company “Serpukhov textile”, LLC “Kamyshinsky KBC”, LLC “Crystal” … … When we said goodbye to the Ambassador, he suddenly said to me: “Tomorrow Irina and her daughter will be released from prison.” This was said in a tone as if Alekseevskii personally spent some titanic underground work for the release of the Russian citizens and achieved in this field unprecedented success. Alas! And a month after that phrase Bitkova in prison. Guatemalan. For the most dangerous criminals. With advertising ice cream on the fence. In pictures:

Igor Bitkova on the territory of the elite prison

prison within a military unit

Anastasia and Irina Bitkova

Cathedral in Antigua Guatemala

Photo by the author.

Russian Ambassador to Guatemala Nikolai Babich (photo from the site of the Alumni Association MGIMO)