A Death in St. Petersburg

Who needs the proofs? To be honest, I never heard about this journalist. It seems this is the great Putin's critic who is widely known in the very narrow environment of his relatives and friends.

 

It's not exactly Putin, who needs defence, it's the sense of reason. When people jump to conclusions and into witch-hunts en-masse - it creates too much of temptation to take advantage of it. Why investigating one or other case, when already people themselves came to conclusion - if that conclusion fits your interests. As result - we have assesments, assumtions and presumptions instead of actual results and facts.

Reminds me of how our obmudsman Astakhov "investigated" the incident on Syamosero lake, where 14 children died. When word of how sloppy he was handling case got to people - people, for once, actually started digging. And here came his previous "achievements" - his failed campaign on cutting down number of orphanages, which resulted in people adopting children for sake of monetary benefits and then literally abandoning them, his ban on adoption of children for citizens of USA after case of child murdered by adopted parents - which resulted in more than a HUNDRED children in various stages of adoption literally being pulled back to orphanages, as well as his constant attempts to ban adoption by foreigners in RF, and his apporval of 17 years old chechen Heda Goylabieva's marriage to man three times older than she was that is said to not exactle been very willing.. And even his doctorate dissertation turned out to be actually carbon copied from other person's work.

The moment people stopped relying on rumors, conclusions and assesments and actually dug into his job record and studied how he worked - government got a big fat petition with demand of him being kicked out of the office, and.. A presidental decree forcing him out of the job, as result. Today he's a private lawyer.


It may not be example that is easily compared to, for example, a rumors around somebody's death - but it's a good example of how important is to be clear and vigilant. Astakhov more than once used the "witch hunts" people craved for after one or another incident of adopted child's abuse by foreigners or our own citizens to either push through some law project, or gain popularity, or push through one or another political idea. Turned out - he was kinda meh person and basically was just using public for his own benefits. And it does not looks like his case is unique, in our country, and generally over the world.