In Russia couples can get married quite easily. You just take your loved one to the Civil Registry Office, make an application and in a couple of months you are officially married.
But it is a whole different story if one of the soon-to-weds is in an isolation ward. In my previous blog posts I thoroughly described how long it took me to collect all the documents and how hard it was to figure out which paper I need to bring to which place.
I started collecting information about how to get married in an isolation ward on the 7th of December, right after Ildar’s sentence had been announced. On the 10th of December I had already applied to get the permission for us to get married. The application, which I can now finally take to the Civil Registry Office., I got on the 15th of January — only after one and a half months.
And I consider it to be rather fast! We got some boost from various human rights defenders, who regularly reminded the management of the isolation ward about our strong desire to get married. First a member of the President Council Andrey Babushkin took a stance for Ildar, when one of the isolation ward’s employees did not want to take Ildar’s application.
“ Ildar is preparing documents to get married; though one of the isolation ward’s employees is obstructing the procedure. First this employee pointed out that in his opinion Ildar’s signature on the document is not similar to the one in his passport; on the other day this employee made an excuse that Ildar’s application is simply not ready and just left.”, Babushkin described in his blog demanding that that particular employee should be hold liable for his actions. After this blog post Ildar’s application was collected and considered. Though it took very long to be processed.
The isolation ward’s management is normally given 30 days to process any document, so they had no reason to hurry. Though, apparently they got really tired of the problems that human rights defenders caused them and finally certified the document. Which they proudly showed to Anna Karetnikova — a human rights defender who came there in the search of Ildar. Since right after my visit he was suddenly taken from his cell together with all his belongings.
It turned out that he was sent to a special place with higher security level. Though I did not really get in which way this higher security level materialized. There was nothing special apart from greater number of CCTV cameras. The isolation ward management told Anna that Ildar was put in that cell, since he had been complaining about lack of beds for the inmates, whereas in that new cell there were enough of beds. The new fellow prisoners, as it turned out, were also filing complaints about the conditions in the isolation ward. There is nothing more that I know about Ildar’s new home. Apart from the fact that it is a little bit warmer there.
I am really looking forward to our wedding. It is going to be our only chance to hold each other’s hands and hug. For the first time in several months…
Though it is still not clear where Ildar’s passport is. In Basmanny court I was told that his passport must be in the isolation ward. Whereas in the isolation ward they don’t know where the passport is. Without the passport we cannot register our marriage. Why Ildar’s main document has disappeared is a definitely a great mystery. I will have to solve it somehow, otherwise there going to be no wedding.
