Приговор при свечах / Judgment in candlelight - Владимир Анатольевич Арсентьев

The investigator found that nine out of the ten escaped men were in pre-trial detention, while the last one was already serving a criminal sentence. It took several days for the inmates to drill a hole in the wall right under the ceiling and exit to the roof before a summer sunrise. The first escapee started climbing down the sheets they took from the camera, but lost hold and fell to the ground. So the others climbed down a drainpipe and went their separate ways. After the runaways were caught and placed back in pre-trial detention, the consideration of their cases in provincial courts sped up. One prison officer was affected by the case – as stated in the order, he was dismissed from the MVD USSR for being professionally unfit.

After many years, at the end of the 20th century, there was no running water in the hotel, and the judge was scooping snow with an aluminum mug. He melted the snow and cooked some porridge. He also made tea, using an immersion heater. He was feeling depressed on the first days of his business trip and couldn’t understand why. On the third day at noon, he went outside in the freezing cold of minus 40 degrees Celsius – and saw a pale sun hanging on to the fell tops of the Gloomy River. A surge of energy informed him that he had not gotten enough sunlight. Soon, the disc of the winter sun was obscured by the mountains.

2.4. Judgment in Candlelight

Half a year passed. This time, the judge required a water craft, not an all-terrain vehicle, to deliver justice. At the crack of dawn, a small motor boat pulled off from the right bank of the river, where the town was standing in mist. Navigation was closed, but the three men in the boat still went down the flooded Gloomy River.

Its cryptic world was fraught with hardship. The boat went swiftly through the floodgates, and the men found themselves between impending rocks. As the violent river smashed against the stone walls narrowing the way, waves were rising right and left, tossing the boat like a child’s ball. Roiling water splashed over the edge, covering the boat in foamy flakes and likening it to a submarine. The deafening roar of the stream blocked all thoughts. Crushed between the rocks, the river sped up massively, striving to break free from the ravine.

Each crew member was hoeing his own row – the young lad was sleeping, tired of his jail time, the helmsman was steering, and the judge raised his head and saw a narrow blue stripe of the sky. He invoked God’s name, and God heard him. Left without a choice, the free will pushed the limits that constrained the conscience. The human struggle discovered the meaning of life in life itself, in its spiritual foundation. At last, the rage of the elements was placated, as the boat popped out like a cork into the vast open river. The human heart expanded with joy, prayer, and gratitude.

After sailing about eight hours down the river, the boat stopped on the left bank, at a small industrial locality. It was lunchtime. The witness woke up. The judge obliged him to arrive to court at a certain hour and sent him home to see his mom. The helmsman warned,

“I’ll sail back tomorrow at one o’clock, and I won’t wait for anyone!”

“Where is the court?”

“On your right.”

“And the police station?”

“On your left.”

The judge looked around but saw neither of those. He walked straight ahead to get closer to the residential area. Then he noticed a blue wooden one-story house with barred windows at the end of the street and hurried over there. His heavy bag full of cases and his numb legs were slowing him down. There was no one outside, no dogs barking, no cats crossing his path. The sign on the blue house said, “Police.” As he entered, he didn’t see anyone except the defendant. She was walking down the hallway, holding a bowl full of freshly peeled and cut potatoes.

While the district police were having their scheduled lunch break, the judge was waiting on the visitors’ bench at the entrance. At last, a well-fed face appeared in the “Emergency Center” window. The man was wearing a uniform shirt without any shoulder boards or tie.

The judicial authority of East Siberia introduced himself, showing his official ID through the bars. The ID had been signed personally by the President of the Russian Federation and awarded by his Siberian Federal District representative. The judge asked,

“Is Sukhaya here?”

“She is.”

“Get her to the court,”—and he specified the time. – “Notify the prosecutor.”

“He knows.”

“Could you give me a lift to the court?”

“It’s not that far.”

Burdened by the cases he hadn’t chosen but was obliged to consider and decide immediately, regardless of identities or circumstances, the judge returned to the same empty street. He walked in the direction specified by the helmsman and reached the former building of the Communist Party District Committee, which now housed the district court.

The judge was welcomed by Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet socialist state, standing on a pedestal. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the judge had several times visited Lenin’s Mausoleum. He had been a member of the Party until its dissolution on November 6, 1991—at which point he was serving as secretary of the Party organization of the district prosecutor’s office and people’s court. Fellow Communists of the MVD USSR time after time elected him as a delegate to various Party conferences. As one local newspaper stated.[159] the reason was his personality, most importantly his eagerness to pursue truth in all cases and his endless will to defend justice. Nothing could stop him from delivering just verdicts.

The judge stopped in the middle of the hallway.