Russian deputy discussed with his son escaping from an American prison

Seattle Federal Prosecutor's Office told the court that the Russian Roman Seleznev, accused of stealing the details of several million American credit cards, and his father, State Duma deputy from the Liberal Democratic Party Valery Seleznev, discussed in telephone conversations plans to put pressure on a potential witness, and perhaps even Seleznev’s junior escape from the local prison.

These allegations are contained in the 13-page response of prosecutors to the recent petition by Seleznev’s defense that the US prison authorities should be barred from providing the Russian prosecutor’s office and the investigating authorities with printouts of telephone conversations.

His lawyer, Angelo Calfo, asked the court to take into account that Seleznev does not know English well, is unfamiliar with the US judicial system and often discusses with his father on the phone the defense tactics in the upcoming process. Although the prison administration is forbidden to listen to inmates' conversations with their lawyers, prosecutors, according to Calfo, can learn their content from Seleznev’s telephone conversations with his father and thereby gain an unfair advantage. Therefore, the lawyer insists that translations of Seleznev's conversations translated into English should not be provided by the prison to the prosecution.

Prosecutor Norman Barbosa immediately sent the judge a lengthy reply in which he noted that there were warnings on the prison phones that all conversations were being tapped. The conversation, moreover, is periodically interrupted by the message that it is being conducted from a federal prison. Therefore, the fact of wiretapping should be well known Selezneva.

Non-telephone conversation

The fact that the accused knows this very well is evidenced by his conversations with his father. On October 2, 2014, shortly after Seleznev Jr. was allowed to make calls, his father told him: “I know that they are listening, and that the people who listen do not wish you well.” VC).

The term “non-telephone conversation” and phrases like “let’s not talk about this on the phone” repeatedly appear in their conversations.

They repeatedly discussed the wiretap and, moreover, regularly tried to fight with it. According to Barbosa, they used the code, whispered and expressed themselves with quick, jerky phrases. Judging by the excerpts from these conversations given in the petition of the prosecutor's office, Seleznev Sr. was especially different in this part, while the younger one usually reminded him that using the code was forbidden and that it could only access the phone.

If prisoner Seleznev needs to call his lawyer, continues Barbosa, the prison administration is obliged to give him that opportunity and will not listen to their conversation.

On November 9, 2014, Valery Seleznev remarked to his son that “your conversations with lawyers are confidential, but phone calls are not.”

According to the prosecutor, thanks to the tapping of Seleznykh, the authorities learned about their intention to put pressure on the unnamed witness for the prosecution or even to use force, as well as their plans to delay the start of the process.

Moreover, Barbosa writes, the accused’s conversations with her father alarmed the prison administration so much that she shared with the prosecutor’s office concerns about the security of the institution entrusted to her and the surrounding residents, and transferred Roman to a more strict regime, in particular, by limiting appointments.

When Roman informed his father about this (August 20 of this year) and explained that the severity was caused by the nature of their telephone conversations, the father remarked: “What can we discuss? Plans to escape, or what?”

Doctors and Wizards

According to the prosecutor, the conversations of Seleznyov about the witness whose name was removed from court documents were so alarmed by the authorities that they took measures to ensure her safety.

The prison administration, known in the United States under the abbreviation VOR, listens to Seleznev Jr.'s conversations since September last year, when he was allowed to make phone calls. To translate them into English, VOR hires people from outside.

According to the prosecutor, their content revealed Seleznyov’s attempts to find out the names of potential witnesses, not yet made public by the authorities, and their intention to exaggerate the seriousness of Roman’s illnesses so that he would be sent to a doctor’s appointment outside the prison.

When discussing people who could help release Seleznev from prison, father and son used the terms “doctors” or “wizards” and described their plans in medical terms. Over the past year, the Seleznevs have discussed three options for Roman's release. Firstly, this is the fight for him in court. Secondly, political negotiations. Thirdly, a certain “Uncle Andrey’s version”. The prosecutor's office still has no idea what exactly was discussed.

Speaking about this option, the interlocutors behave especially carefully and use jerky phrases.

Deputy Seleznev described the above to Russian publications as “nonsense” and complained that on October 7 his son was transferred to a department for already convicted prisoners, where he can communicate with the defense only by email, which is read by jailers.