Three Russians cannot leave Sri Lanka for a year and a half due to dead beetles

A year and a half ago, dozens of media outlets wrote about residents of Rostov who were being tried in Sri Lanka on charges of illegally catching insects. But the information wave soon subsided, and the trial continued - and there is no end in sight, reports with the BBC

Photo: Shutterstock

The Russians claim that their criminal case is falsified, and the main goal of the prosecution is a gigantic fine.

Zoologist Alexander Ignatenko still remembers this caterpillar. He saw her as a child, walking in the yard with his grandmother.

“I was amazed by her beauty,” he says. “Very rich color... And some kind of alien structure.”

It was the larva of a linden hawk moth - although the boy did not yet understand the names at that time. Bright green, as if pimply, with red notches on the sides.

“She was crawling along the border of the flowerbed, and I was surprised how such an unusual, “lifeless”-looking creature moved. Perhaps it was this childhood impression that determined my passion for biology,” Ignatenko writes these words while in Sri Lanka, 7,5 thousand kilometers from home.

He is 29 years old and an employee of the Rostov Zoo. But for a year and a half, Alexander and his two friends - geologist Nikolai Kilafyan and freelancer Artem Ryabov - have not been able to return to Russia. They spent more than a month in a Sri Lankan prison, now under recognizance not to leave. All three were accused first of smuggling, and then of illegally catching insects. If found guilty in court, all three face up to 20 years in prison. Or a fine of $27000.

And Ignatenko and his friends got into this dramatic situation precisely because of his love for insects.

Delayed due to being late

This trip might not have happened at all. At first, Kilafyan wanted to fly to Costa Rica alone. Then Ignatenko was worried about the budget - six months before the trip, he and his wife took out a mortgage, and there might not be enough money. And Ryabov didn’t even know them then. But, having met them at their birthday party, I watched Sasha’s videos from past trips and was hooked.

In the end, the puzzle came together, and the friends rushed to look for cheap tickets. Tickets were for a tropical island.
“Sri Lanka has a very diverse nature,” Ignatenko explains his choice. — Savannahs, rain forests, mountains, coast. There was a chance to see everything, albeit at a gallop.”

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They arrived at the beginning of February, and for more than two weeks the vacation was excellent. “We visited temples in caves, looked at leopards and elephants. We went on a sea excursion. We swam a lot,” says Ignatenko.

They were going to return to Rostov on March 1.

But on February 26, they were detained by rangers at the exit from the Horton Plains National Park, near the city of Nuwara Eliya.

Alexander recalls that that day, due to the cold night, they did not get enough sleep and arrived at the park late; near the entrance, a deer was eating from a trash can. There was little time left for the excursion, and at the end of the day they also miscalculated the return route: “We were filming landscapes at sunset, and Artem said that he was bored and would go ahead. As it turns out, we need to walk nine kilometers.”

We got to the exit after dark and, of course, were late.

Describing the circumstances of the detention, Ignatenko stipulates that he cannot indicate some details in detail. He is afraid that this will be reflected in court and will complicate his life - he claims that the prosecution is “constantly changing the testimony they have already given.” Nikolai Kilafyan and Artem Ryabov do not communicate with journalists at all.

The lateness raised suspicion among the park rangers. They took cameras, backpacks, documents from the Russians and searched them. According to the Sri Lankan media, the rangers found several dead insects in Ignatenko's pocket.

In an interview with Meduza, which was included by the Russian authorities in the register of media outlets acting as a foreign agent, Alexander explained that he found these insects outside the park the day before, but forgot to post them. He said that he collected insects and other animals along the roads and in the hotel garden to take photographs in good light and identify the species. Then he was going to return them back.

Now he does not comment on this episode.

Also, the rangers found in the camera pictures of insects, previously taken by Alexander in other places. And they began to accuse the Russians of illegal fishing.

“We tried to show that we didn’t catch anyone, and that there were other dates in the photo, but they didn’t react, they just repeated “Big problems” and that there would be a fine of $50 thousand,” recalls Ignatenko. “We were perplexed why they demanded such huge sums. They thought their English was bad.”

Later, 184 more species of insects were allegedly found in the car of the Russians, local media reported. Among them were butterflies and bees.

Ignatenko and his companions spent the night in the park’s utility room. They were not allowed to call the embassy. Later, a search was carried out in the hotel room where they lived and the police became involved in the case. According to Sri Lankan media, more than 500 insects and small animals belonging to 23 species, as well as some plant species, were allegedly found at the hotel. Among the finds were chameleons, scorpions, frogs, geckos, snails, and spiders.

Alexander Ignatenko claims that there were much fewer animals and insects. In a conversation with Meduza, he called the figure “no more than a hundred.” According to him, the search was carried out with violations. During it, witnesses and an interpreter were absent, and no one kept an inventory. As a result, many of their belongings and electronics, seized by the police, later disappeared. And the list of discovered insects and animals was allegedly compiled arbitrarily.

“Well, this is nonsense, to carry so much stuff with you on a trip, and even more so to take it across the border! - Alexander is indignant. “We were even credited with fruit seeds that were found in the trash.” The local media still talks about their unimaginable value. They also wrote that we were “biopirates” and were going to steal the genes of plants in order to produce a cure for cancer from them!”

Explaining why he needs to photograph insects, Ignatenko says that he then sends these photos to his friends: “If I meet a representative of a group that one of my friends is involved in, I photograph especially carefully, setting the light in a lightbox. There is also the possibility of making faunal discoveries and describing a new location of discovery.”

He categorically denies any commercial interest in this occupation.

“The sugar was poured directly into the palm”

The next day, the Russians were taken to a pre-trial detention center in the city of Badul. Ignatenko recalls with horror the month he spent there. At first, in addition to them, there were nine people in the cell. Among them were those accused of terrorism, burning a person, setting fire to a court and distributing drugs.

Then the Russians were moved to a cell where 86 people were already sitting.

“It was very crowded to sleep, we went to bed on the jack,” says Alexander. “It was cold from the concrete floor. Mosquitoes were constantly biting me. We drank water from rusty barrels in the corner.”

But the hardest part was getting used to the local food.

“In the morning we were given a piece of bread and coconut mixed with chili pepper,” Ignatenko describes the diet. - In the afternoon - a plate of rice seasoned with hot sauce, with a piece of unusually spicy fish. In the evening - the same rice, seasoned with sauce, and a spicy appetizer paripu. We had to eat it all with our hands; there was no cutlery. We said many times that we felt bad from such food, but to no avail. The greatest value was a spoonful of sugar - it was poured directly into the palm.”

While under arrest, the Russians managed to contact their relatives on social networks from someone else's phone.

Talking about this in Rostov, Vladimir Kilafyan, Nikolai’s father, laughs. At first, he decided that scammers were writing: “Well, imagine a message in Latin: “Dad, we are in prison.” We’re already waiting for them at home, they’re about to arrive.”

Here Kilafyan Sr. stops smiling: “And then we realized that everything was true. And our nightmare began."

After contacting the embassy, ​​the relatives of the detainees hired a local lawyer in Sri Lanka. In less than six months, they spent almost $ 4000 on his services. This did not bring success. Ignatenko believes that the lawyer simply used them.

“He constantly raised the price for his parents,” the zoologist recalls. “And his whole strategy boiled down to admitting guilt and paying a fine. We asked to report violations, and he answered: “I can’t, I’ll have problems.” Towards the end, in July 2020, he generally stated: “Open a collection for my services. There are millions of people living in Russia, if everyone donates a dollar, it will be millions of dollars. Why do you feel sorry for your lawyer?” After that we found another defender.”

At the beginning of April 2020, all three Russians were released on their own recognizance. This was facilitated by Covid - in order to prevent outbreaks in prisons, the Sri Lankan authorities began to release those accused of minor crimes.

For some time, the friends lived for free with the owner of one of the guest houses: “He made good money from tourists, and when the lockdown began, he decided to help those who were stuck on the island in return.”

As Ignatenko recalls, the court ordered them to find guarantors among local residents by June 15. They were found only with the help of Russian diplomats.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed this information. The ministry said that the Sri Lankan authorities were “providing the necessary assistance”, thanks to which the Russians were released from custody during the trial and given the opportunity to use phones. “As a rule, our consular officer is present at court hearings,” the diplomatic department added.

Now Ignatenko, Kilafyan and Ryabov live in a cheap rented semi-basement on the outskirts of Nuwara Eliya. Their relatives send them money to pay for housing and food. All communication with them is through instant messengers and social networks.

The trial of all three, which began in the summer of 2020, has been going on for over a year.

"Identifier of insects"

“Sasha probably took the zoologist genes from me. I always loved biology, but I didn’t go into biology. There was higher mathematics, I was lagging behind in it...” - a brittle, worried female voice is heard in the telephone receiver. This is Anna Ivanovna - the mother of Alexander Ignatenko. “But he graduated from the Faculty of Biology and entered graduate school. But his supervisor fell ill, and the dissertation did not work out,” she continues.

Anna Ivanovna agrees to communicate with correspondents only remotely. The woman, who eventually graduated from the Faculty of Philology and taught Russian and literature all her life, has been retired for several years; Alexander is her only son. She has no other relatives left, and she is going crazy with worry. “If I suddenly get sick with Covid, what will I do here alone?” - she worries.

Anna Ivanovna recalls how, as a child, she gave her son the book “Identifier of Insects” by the Soviet entomologist and popularizer of science Nikolai Plavilshchikov. And the boy did not part with her. He constantly found different beetles and compared them with the book: “He was obsessed with this. I attended the “Young Biologist” club at the university and participated in scientific conferences.”

Relatives and colleagues of Ignatenko unanimously argue that Alexander could not be engaged in smuggling or something illegal.

“He’s a passionate, honest guy. Another person would go to the beach to sunbathe, but he is interested in nature,” this is how his boss, director of the Rostov-on-Don Zoo Alexander Zhadobin, characterizes Ignatenko. Ignatenko came to the zoo as an ordinary employee: first in the insectarium, and then as head of the small mammals department.

“He had success in this area. For example, thanks to his work, Patagonian maras bred for the first time in our zoo,” says Zhadobin. After his arrest, Alexander was not fired; his position was retained until he returned home.

Ignatenko’s wife Elena said that her husband ensured that a new home was built for the capybaras at the zoo. “He was always tinkering with animals and insects. He just adores them,” she smiles.

Elena is a geneticist, works in the laboratory of an oncology institute. She and Alexander have been together for nine years. The girl meets the correspondent in a cafe and immediately apologizes for “looking tired.” After her husband was arrested, she has to work in two places to pay the mortgage.

When asked what it’s like to live with a zoologist, Elena grins: “Very interesting.”

The girl recalls how a few years ago an entire wall of their house was dedicated to a terrarium. Inside, dozens of insects swarmed behind the glass walls - spiders, scorpions, centipedes, tropical cockroaches.

“At one time, Sasha was very interested in tarantula spiders,” says Elena. — I watched them, described how they feed and reproduce. But when he got a job at the zoo, there was no time left for the terrarium. And Sasha distributed all the insects to his friends. The only living creatures left at home were a parrot, a hedgehog, guinea pigs and a few lizards.”
Elena emphasizes that Ignatenko bought all his pets in pet stores or on special farms and says that he did not bring any “fauna” home from his trips.

“Thanks to the zoo, he now pursues his scientific interest at work,” she explains. — Or on trips like the one planned for Sri Lanka. He traveled a lot around Russia and visited India. Once he and Kilafyan spent a month in Uganda. The country is poor, but very unusual in its landscapes - mountains, deserts, forests. They were curious about what grew and lived there.”

Elena herself does not go on “entomological expeditions” with her husband, only on tourist ones. It’s hard in the field: “I can stand it for another week, but then it’s a bit difficult.”

But she let her husband go on the road calmly.

“They always prepare carefully. They study the laws, plan routes, prepare first aid kits,” says the girl. “Besides, it’s not as expensive as it seems.” They take the cheapest tickets, live in homestays or even in tents. People can have different hobbies, and I always supported my husband in this.”

Elena pauses for a second: “I supported it until last year.”

Tough laws

The three Russians are not the only ones in Sri Lanka who have been accused of illegally catching or smuggling insects recently.

In 2020, a Chinese citizen was detained at Colombo airport. Airport security found he had two hundred poisonous scorpions packed in plastic boxes. The Chinese had to pay a fine of $ 550.

A year earlier, five tourists from Slovakia were detained while “trying to remove insects, butterflies and plants” from the World Heritage Sinharaja Forest. Wildlife service officers found some of these insects during a search in the house where the tourists were staying.

In the same year, two Chinese were detained for similar reasons, only insects were on the list.

Photo: Shutterstock

One of the detained Chinese was named Wei Hu. After reading about the arrest of the Russians, he wrote to Ignatenko on social networks and expressed support for him. Like Alexander, Wei Hu is interested in studying insects. His Facebook page is full of close-up photos of bugs.

The Chinese says that he never smuggled, and only planned to take macro photographs of insects found in the forest.

“We found dozens of beetles in Horton Plains Park to share their photos with the entomology community,” he said. “The next morning, local residents came to our room. There was a guy with a gun with them. He searched our backpacks and asked what we had packed. We were taken to the park administration and then to Badula prison.”

Wei Hu and his friend spent more than three months under arrest. They could have been imprisoned for four years, but they chose to pay a fine of $23 thousand. The Chinese says the figure could be lower.

“Every time before the trial, the lawyer told us the amount and asked if we could pay it,” Wei Hu recalls. “He assured us that if we paid, they would let us out.” We were very scared, and we believed. But after the meeting we were sent back to prison. And the next time the proposed amount increased.”

Without heavy fines, it is impossible to “control smugglers and offenders,” said Samantha Gunasekara, former deputy director of the Sri Lanka Customs Department. Sri Lanka is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots and this attracts many wildlife collectors.

“Some come for commercial purposes, others for research,” he says. “But we must protect our flora and fauna.”

In the early 90s, Gunasekara created and headed the world's first biodiversity protection unit in the Customs Administration. It fights wildlife smuggling on the island.

Also in Sri Lanka, strict laws on the protection of natural resources have been adopted.

In particular, in national parks, reserves and beyond, it is prohibited to kill, injure or collect any invertebrates, living or dead, included in the relevant “conservation” list. This is punishable by a fine of up to 100 thousand rupees ($1350) or imprisonment from two to five years. In the case of collecting several types of insects, rangers add up fines—hence such large sums as in the Ignatenko case arise.

“We need to understand what biodiversity is,” continues Samantha Gunasekara. “This is not only the diversity of species, but also the interaction between them. No matter how big or small, they are all part of a very complex ecosystem. Every insect plays a critical role.”

The conservationist is convinced that Alexander Ignatenko should have coordinated his actions with the island authorities. “Even if he is not a smuggler, he should have taken permission to photograph or collect. And even if they are dead insects, it doesn’t matter. No one can collect samples just like that,” he said.
Russian scientists are skeptical about the idea of ​​introducing permits for collecting insects. According to Dmitry Gapon, a senior researcher at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in some countries it is “almost impossible for a foreigner to obtain permission to collect material.”

“Every day some species of animals and plants disappear in the world. And we will never know about them if we don’t explore. Legislation in many countries prevents the study of local flora and fauna, making no distinction between researchers and, for example, hunters, merchants selling “exotics” to private collectors, and other poachers,” he explains.

“Even if you obtain permission to collect, exporting samples is often prohibited. At the same time, the residents themselves are destroying nature at an accelerated pace - legally or illegally. For example, almost half of all deforestation in Borneo, a rich center of biodiversity, is carried out illegally, and the island is projected to have almost no rainforest left by 2022.

“It is necessary to fight poachers,” sums up Gapon. “But there are also interests of humanity.” Scientific collections of insects are a world heritage.”

The zoologist is confident that collecting insects that are already dead is “a completely normal method.” “There are a lot of them in the streetlights at night, and they die there. And if you shake them out of the lampshade, you can find very interesting things, but removing dead insects from nature cannot cause any harm to it,” he says.

“How can a real zoologist pass by something like this without looking at it or holding his hand? - Dmitry Gapon gets excited. “Then it won’t be a zoologist, but a layman!”

Last spring, when it became known about the detention of Ignatenko, a whole group of Russian scientists made an appeal to the Russian Foreign Ministry. In their letter, they insisted on the innocence of Ignatenko and his companions and asked for help in their release. The letter was signed by 74 employees of the leading natural science institutes in Russia.

"I think it's about money"

In August 2021, Sri Lankan police dropped more than half of the charges against Ignatenko, Kilafyan and Ryabov. Instead of 277, there were 102 left. According to the vice-president of the Russian branch of the International Human Rights Committee, Ivan Melnikov, this happened “at the insistence of Russian diplomats, human rights activists and lawyers.”

However, even with the remaining counts, all three face up to 20 years in prison or a heavy fine. None of the three Russians have that kind of money.

Alexander Ignatenko recalls that the number of accusatory “episodes” changed several times over the past year and a half. For each name of an insect species there could be several accusations. Their number reached 301.

“We were accused either of preparing smuggling or of killing insects,” Ignatenko lists. - But these articles have already been removed. Accusations of using “special chemicals to attract animals” were also dropped. They appeared because of our first aid kits with antiseptics and anti-malaria drugs. Now all that remains are articles on illegal catching and “possession” of animals.”

But scientists have questions for them.

“It is striking that the accusation was written by non-specialists,” comments Dmitry Gapon. With Russian and foreign colleagues, he conducted an examination of the list of insects and plants given in it. The scientist says most of the species mentioned by the prosecution are not considered endangered even under Sri Lankan law.

“It's full of mistakes. Some insects are incorrectly identified, says the zoologist. — Some families have been identified correctly, but their representatives do not live in the eastern hemisphere at all. The charges include eight species of butterflies that were allegedly collected in the park. But the park is located at an altitude of 2200 m above sea level. Only one of the specified species can rise to such a height.”

Difficulties in interpreting the charges also arise because for the first six months the Russians did not have a translator from Sinhala, one of the official local languages.

The men came to court, sat there, “not understanding a word,” and then returned back. Later, a translator appeared, but things didn’t get any easier. “He translates something like this: “They’re talking about your business... they’re talking about your business again,” says Ignatenko. “And one day the translator called our lawyer and asked: “What is your plan? Why are you helping them? We are all Sri Lankans.”

Documents here are also filled out in Sinhalese. The men translate each paper from the court themselves, with the help of a google translator.

All this is a gross violation of international law, says Ivan Melnikov. He also draws attention to the “inhumane conditions” of detention of Russians.

“In a good way, after such violations, the prosecution should apologize, pay compensation and release them,” he believes.

It is unknown how long the trial will last. Due to periodic lockdowns, meetings are regularly postponed. For several months, the Russians waited for the results of the examinations that the prosecution requested. They checked electronic equipment, medicines from the first aid kit and “some kind of soil.” Ignatenko does not know where she even came from in the case.

The interrogation of the park rangers began only six months after the opening of the trial. But he also goes slowly. According to Ignatenko, the rangers enumerate insignificant details throughout the meeting, after which the process is interrupted until the next hearing. The next date is set in a month and a half, because otherwise the rangers are uncomfortable.

The man is surprised that during all this time the Russians themselves have never testified: “We are present at the trial, like furniture.”

According to Ignatenko, the trial is being deliberately delayed in order to force them to pay a fine. He claims that the prosecutors threatened the Russians: if they do not admit guilt according to the updated list, then the process “could continue for at least five years.”

“I think the reason is money,” says Alexander. — According to local laws, all fines paid in such cases go to the Wildlife Protection Fund. Our lawyer said that employees of the national park can receive bonuses from the money of this fund. They also buy equipment—transport, clothing.”

“Getting food becomes a quest”

“...A whole dog team has gathered here. One is a gray puppy, the other is a black puppy,” Alexander Ignatenko posts a short video on WhatsApp about his life in Nuwara Eliya. In the video, several dogs of different ages are standing on the threshold of the room. They wag their tails and wait for food. “The puppies brighten up our stay a little. It’s fun to watch them play carefree,” he writes.

In addition to cute dog faces, there are buckets, an enamel sink and dirty white walls covered in mildew in the frame.

Ignatenko and his friends see such mold every day, waking up in the morning. Outside the window at this time, it is often raining or foggy. There is no heating in the room and therefore it is constantly cold. You have to sleep in your clothes and under three blankets.

The prayer of Buddhist monks is heard from the loudspeaker of a local temple.

“Our days consist of sheer stress,” says Alexander. “Everything is somehow terrible and incomprehensible.” All day long we study local laws, which are in English. And we’re trying to figure them out to help the lawyer.”

It’s hard to think of other activities here. They cannot work without a work visa. But they read a lot - their phones save them.

“I also wrote an article about Patagonian maras for the Moscow collection - as far as it turned out from the screen,” Ignatenko rejoices. But he immediately mentions that his vision began to deteriorate from the phone.

They don’t go for walks around the city: there are no sidewalks on the streets, and they have to walk straight along the roadway. The house is surrounded by dense buildings on one side, and carrot and potato fields on the other. This has its advantages: when food disappeared from the shelves during the lockdown, the farmer allowed them to take carrots from an abandoned compost heap.

“Getting food becomes even more of a quest,” admits Alexander. — Due to food shortages, a state of emergency has been declared in Sri Lanka. Sometimes you stand in line for several hours to get a cup of rice. There is no cottage cheese, sour cream, or meat here, and what is available has become very expensive.”

During the year and a half that they were in Sri Lanka, Ignatenko’s wife, Elena, lost her father and grandmother. His friend had a child, and his good friend got divorced. Nikolai Kilafyan’s mother retired. Nikolai himself broke his leg while going down the stairs, and it still hasn’t healed. All three Russians, apparently, had contracted the coronavirus - they lost their sense of smell, had a fever, and their joints ached. The disease was suffered without medication or medical care: they simply “drank water and lay flat on the bed.”

“We regard the current conditions as torture,” says Alexander Ignatenko. - Torture by constant fear of undeserved punishment. Separation from family. The inability to earn money for normal food. Torture with a painful ulcer and the threat of remaining disabled due to a broken leg. This is a huge moral challenge."

When asked if he has become disillusioned with entomology, Ignatenko answers negatively: “I’ve been doing this my entire adult life and I don’t see any other options. But now I will definitely spend more time with my family. If, of course, I get out of here.”

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