A week and a half ago, National Bolshevik Party leader and eXile columnist Edward Limonov was brought to the Lefortovsky Regional Courthouse for an illegal detention hearing— a sort of Russian version of a motion to dismiss and a bail hearing all wrapped into one— brought forward by his lawyer, Sergei Belyak. Dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit with white piping, Edward looked fit but a little pale as he filed out of a paddy wagon with five other prisoners and was led into the basement of the courthouse. About ten minutes later he reappeared on the fifth floor, where a crowd, consisting mainly of journalists and NBP party members, had gathered to watch his entrance into the closed hearing. The NBP members were mainly young people in their twenties and teens. As members of Limonov’s party, they have the privilege of carrying perhaps the best nickname for any political party in the world— the “Nuts-Balls”. The Russian for the NBP is the Natsional-Bolsheviki, which is shortened to Nats-Bols, which in Limonov-esque English is easily converted into “Nuts-Balls.” The “Nuts-Balls” at the courthouse therefore carried signs around their necks: “I’m also a NatsBol. Why am I not in jail?”

Belyak had filed his motion on a number of grounds, the essence of all of which were that this was a politically motivated arrest, with no real evidence linking Limonov to any crime. The motion failed and Edward remains behind bars. Edward is not able to write articles for us from jail, but through Belyak we were able to pass him questions, which he answered in written form on a single sheet of paper. After this trial run, we’ve been told that we’ll be able to continue to send questions in the future, and more of them, and we hope to regularly publish his responses. eXile readers who have questions for Edward should feel free to send them to office@exile.ru.

Here’s the first short interview with Lefortovo inmate Edward Limonov:

• Q. How big is your cell? Do you have cellmates?
• 2 x 3 , or something like that. One cellmate.
• Q. What happened exactly in the days leading up to your arrest? It is obvious, given that you were arrested by the national FSB, that yours is a case they’ve been working on for a long time, and for political reasons. You must have know you were being followed. So what happened? Did you do something that gave them an excuse to arrest you, or were you simply set up?
• Yes, FSB been working on the case from February 2000, but they didn’t have a proofs against me, so they arrested me after unsuccessful search in Altai mountain cabin, anyway hoping they will discover something later.
• Q. Your life has very conspicuously been dedicated to pursuing extremes of self-determination, freedom, and individuality. Now, you’re in a situation where you’re faced with physical confinement and deprivation of freedom for a long time. How will you manage?
• Have no choice, anyway. So far I am doing fine, have a superman will.
• Q. Is the current Russian government so unreasonable that the only way to oppose it is to physically confront it?
• Russian have changed under Putin. Strange mixture of Soviet fascism with favoritizm of beloved oligarchs like Deripaska and Abramovitch.
• Q. Do you think of yourself primarily as a writer, or as a poltician?
• I am arrested as a political leader. I think I am.
• Q. Do you have any regrets?
• It’s unpractical have regrets. I will face my destiny.
• Q. What is your daily routine like?
• Get up at 6:00, go to bed at 22:00, because it’s a military prison. Breakfast at 7:00, diner at 13, etc.
• Q. Why do you think there’s been so little uproar over your case in the West? In Soviet days, whenever the government so much as breathed in the direction of a famous writer, it was front-page news. But your case, taking place in “democratic” Russia, has been handled differently. Why?
• ‘Cause now West is friendly to Putin’s Russia. And I am “rightist extremist” leader. I hope with time reaction of Western media will undergone some change.

  Repression against Gusinski and NTV and repression against Limonov and NBP is, as a matter of fact, is same repression. The West should understand that. It is the end of Russian freedom.