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Life after death
Written by Марина Базылюк   
Пятница, 22 Май 2009
Фото: АНАТОЛИЙ МОРКОВКИН
Фото: АНАТОЛИЙ МОРКОВКИН
On May 29th Moscow will host a charity concert by Anita Tsoy. Money raised from ticket sales is to be donated to families who lost loved ones during the seizure of the theatrical center on Dubrovka in 2002, as well as the tragedy at Beslan School No. 1 in 2004. Commandos from the 'Alpha' Special Forces group will take the stage and sing a requiem in memory of the victims of terror attacks. Part of the funds will be used to create a museum in Moscow, dedicated to the victims of terrorist attacks. And there are tens of thousands of such victims in Russia. Among them are many disabled people, and those who are in need of psychological assistance. Today several of them do not have enough money even to buy food. Some lost an only child, or all of them at once. Or they lost a mother. There are many people such as these, but no one needs them.
A correspondent from 'NI' visited one such family.
In her cozy kitchen, Elena Prostomolotova shows me photographs. The pictures were taken 7–8 years ago. There are of a young, attractive blonde. Elena Anatolevna (Prostomolotova) looks beautiful even today, younger than her years, though today she is completely different. In October of 2002 her life ended after 'Nord-Ost'.

«There's no life after the death of a child, none…»

But what about your grandson? You must go on for him.

«I go on for him, but he doesn't need it. He has no mother, no birthday, nothing. He hasn't found himself. He's tried it all — alcohol, drugs. Now he draws pictures, writes poems and stories, because he's remained there, at that age, on that day when it all happened. He's also always telling me: 'You have me'. He doesn't understand that he can't replace my daughter. She was better than me, and after her death it seems that I also became better, because I'm always thinking: how would Sasha have done this, what would Sasha have said?»

«There wasn't a lifeline there»

Elena Anatolevna's daughter, 31 year-old Sasha Ryabova, went to the musical 'Nord-Ost' with her son Alexei. When the terrorists released children, 'Lyosha' lied and said that he was 12, even though he was 2 years older. They believed him — he looked small and frail. They released the boy. Two days later, however, on October 26th, 2002, when Alexei turned 14, his mother was identified — with difficulty — at one of the capitol's morgues.

«I never could've recognized her — she was so swollen,» said Elena Anatolevna. «My friends identified her. The authorities gave me almost all her things — her passport, and a writing book, in which she wrote me a farewell letter. And they gave me all her clothes.»

Elena Prostomolotova is very calm on the outside, only she smokes continuously. A pack disappeared during two hours of conversation.

«I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember how she was buried. At the church, when they were doing the funeral service, I saw death. I saw it next to me, in a white shroud.»

Elena Anatolevna stares at me:
«I’m not nuts. You know, I'm good at reading palms. When Sasha died, when I was by her coffin, I decided to look at her palm. When my daughter was alive, she never let me do this. She'd say something like, 'mama, I'm not showing you because you'll say that it'll come true'. I took Sasha's hand and right away I remembered that I saw her hand once by accident, and what I saw scared me so much that I put it out of my mind right then and there. I refused to remember it, because there wasn't a lifeline there. There just wasn't.»

«They only remembered us for the first two months»

«Everyone loves to talk about how they gave us money for our dead children,» Elena Anatolevna again takes a drag on her cigarette. «Yeah, they gave me 100 thousand rubles for Sasha. I threw it away. Just let it fly away in the wind. Certainly, I never should've taken it. But out of stupidity I took it, left court, and tossed it away. Because it's funny that a human life is worth 100 thousand. By the way, Sveta from Kazakhstan, whose husband and only child, a daughter, were killed, they didn't give her anything. She was from a different country.»

Elena Anatolevna and Alexei today live in the same apartment that they once lived in with Sasha. The apartment is in need of repairs, but there is no money to do it on. When Sasha was alive she made fairly good money and supported her son and mother. After 'Nord-Ost', Elena Anatolevna became the guardian of her only grandchild. The government, besides the 100 thousand, paid the boy another 50 thousand, in addition to 10 thousand for loss of personal property. In addition, Alexei was assigned welfare for the loss of his breadwinner — 1,500 rubles a month, which he received regularly until he was 18. Now it is no more: Alexei is 20 and the government clearly knows its rights. No one cares that Alexei pays tuition for college; his only support being his 58 year-old grandmother. Elena Anatolevna could, of course, prove that her daughter until the moment of death was supporting her, and that would mean that she too was entitled to welfare for the loss of a breadwinner, but she did not wish to humble herself.

«Everywhere they spit on us. Their position is that we're after money, and that's why we want to go to the Strasburg Court. It's not money we're after, but truth! But the 'Nord-Ost' case in this country is still open so we can't complain at Strasbourg,» Elena Anatolevna loudly sums it up. «A 14 year-old child on my shoulders, could someone at least come and ask me or him what we're living on? Ask where I get the money to feed him? No, they only remembered us for the first two months. There was this 'Blagovest' organization. They brought us macaroni and buckwheat, like we were poor people. They sent 'Lyosha' to live awhile in Holland, for a month with a family there, but for his travel there and back they took the money from me for some reason. Later I found out that according to their documents they paid for everything.»

The terrorists' victims died… from gastritis

After 'Nord-Ost' Elena Prostomolotova spend a few months in a neurology clinic. Later she got a job — she had to feed her grandson. They decided to buy a car. Elena Anatolevna is handicapped and it is difficult for her to walk. She found work as a manager, but had to drive to different stores quite frequently. She borrowed money from friends for the car, a new Toyota, which was stolen within the month. Prostomolotova did not have the money for theft insurance, and so another grief was added to all the others for the family — a 200 thousand-ruble debt, which is still outstanding. But she is not going to sue the government for compensation.

«What's the point?» the woman laughs. «A couple people sued them. They got themselves 120 ruble pensions. Everyone's just waiting for us to die. Right next to my Sasha is the grave of a boy, 23 years old. He also died at 'Nord-Ost'. Now his mother is buried there. They could all care less that life for us has stopped.»

But at least they provide you with free psychological assistance?

«Give me a break! Everything's out of pocket! All the lawsuits for pain and suffering got tossed out. What's there to discuss, when the investigator in charge of our case looks us in the eye and says: 'your children all died because they were drug addicts'. No one ever let us make copies at the prosecutor's office. We had to write out the autopsies by hand. My Sasha had five autopsies. When we got her at the morgue we had to sign a paper, stating there was no right to a repeat exhumation. But what's to exhume? They took all the organs. In the first autopsy they wrote one thing, and in the second something else, while in the fifth one, the last one, that she died from acute gastritis.»

Nonetheless, many of the 'Nord-Ost' victims took to court the government that could not protect their loved ones. The lawsuits went on for several years. During this time several of the claimants died. Those, who made it to the end, received pensions from 120 to 8000 rubles per month. There is no law in Russia governing the protection of terror victims.

«They care so little what we think, that they didn't even ask our opinion when they put a monument to our children near the Theatrical Center,» said Elena Anatolevna. «It was a plaque with the names of our children that was hung on the corner, inept and ugly. But no one wants a monument in the center of the square. After all, that's where the parking lot is, in the center. Such blasphemy.»

From 'Novye Izvestiya'

Views: 4188 | E-mail

  Comments (3)
1. Written by Nefrit, on 22-06-2009 02:33
омерзительно..
обидно.
жестоко..
Россия,блин,священная наша держава..ну-ну..
2. Держитесь
Written by Алена Михайлова, on 22-06-2009 17:45
Уважаемая Елена, держитесь, не опускайте руки! Помните, Вы подходили ко мне на третью годовщину с портретом дочери, говорили, что мы с мужем сидели рядом с Вашими близкими в зале. Тогда-то я и поняла, что все сидящие вокруг меня в зале (во втором и третьем ряду) люди, включая мужа, погибли… Я, так же как и Вы и по прошествии почти 7 лет ничего не забыла, все помню и чувствую, переживаю, как и тогда, не получила ответов и на половину интересующих вопросов., длоо сих пор не знаю, когда именно и как, от чего погиб Максим. Меня тогда из зала «вывели» мои сыновья, точно знаю. что именно ради них я и выжила и живу, держитесь. Внук должен перерасти все негативное, ведь его воспитывали в любви и заботе, он живет за двоих! Удачи, силы Вам и здоровья!!!
3. Written by Валерий, on 20-07-2010 19:46
Столько времени прошло после этого, а на душе горько и обидно за жизнь невинных людей.Наша память и есть наша жизнь.Но а в будущем все равно смерть … твоя смерть,а после нее все равно жизнь,жизнь,жизнь и встреча с любимыми…

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