07.11.2014, Kazakhstan
Another letter from political prisoner Vladimir Kozlov who is serving time in the Zarechniy village, near Almaty, arrived at the editorial office of the 'Gazeta Novostey' ['The news newspaper']. In the letter, the politician comments on the new Criminal Code which has recently entered into force.
Translation of V. Kozlov's letter:
"I wish you all good health, well-being, a good mood, and a bright future (and none of your colleagues have contributed more to it than you, yourselves)!
Another letter of yours arrived with more newspapers of our traditional 'republican' quality enclosed - heartfelt thanks from all the inmates!
'Do not condemn me' (this is also our prison phrase - a synonym of 'I'm sorry, please forgive me') - for the inclusion in the letter of more prison slang words than are in everyday use where you live - often they require explanation and interpretation. This is not because I have begun to use more of them in my everyday vocabulary - no, I'm just curious to learn new things, and, having learnt, I want to share my knowledge with you.
I often write letters to Aliya, describing my position on many topics, events, and so on given that here, often a new, unique, as I would say, understanding is revealed to me, this may sometimes be interesting to you, so please ask her about it. If it transpires to be useful to you, I will be happy. Now I'm staying in a place much closer to you than before, and the letters take just 3-4 days. And so, I keep up with events quite well, and it pleases me.
… Aliya is now left alone with Alyon, only sometimes someone happens to help occasionally, whilst on a short visit; she barely has time to both take care of Alyon, and fulfill my needs... Oh, how I will have to compensate her for these fantastic years of persistence and working capacity (Smiley). Well, never mind, I've already amassed so much strength to edify and encourage...
It is noticeable that the authorities want to make a huge thing
out of introducing the new Criminal Code. The Code in itself will
hardly 'set' anyone 'free', it contains hardly any 'humanisation',
almost at the level of statistical error, so parallelly, works are
now being carried out in order to release more people under Article
71 of the old Criminal Code and under other Articles (e.g. Article
177, for those who have already served most of their time) so that,
apparently, this can be presented as an outcome of the enactment of
the 'humanised' CC.
I can only be glad that I was put in jail earlier than the decision was made to change the punishment under 'my' Article from 7-12 years, to 12-20 years! (Smiley).
And that is something to rejoice about. Even though I did not do anything criminal, and for that I got my 7.5 years, now I would probably 'get' 12.5 years for the same conviction.
That's all for now, I love you all and I'm looking forward for our traditional tea-drinking with a piece of a cake.
17 October, 2014. LA 155 \ 14 Kozlov.
P.S. I'm sorry about writing on your very letter - I'm saving paper.
Source: Respublika
