(No) Crime, Punishment, Repentance
By Michele A. Berdy
×èñòîñåðäå÷íîå ïðèçíàíèå: a confession "straight from the heart."
Ah, spring. The snow is melting, Easter eggs are on the table, we all forgave one another on Forgiveness Sunday (Ïðîù¸ííîå âîñêðåñåíüå) -- well, almost everyone. Some people seem to be unforgiven and unforgivable, even those showing some degree of repentance.
Part of the problem might be deciding what, exactly, they are guilty of: Êîëëåãèÿ èç 12 ïðèñÿæíûõ åäèíîãëàñíî ïðèçíàëà ðîññèéñêîãî ó÷¸íîãî Èãîðÿ Ñóòÿãèíà âèíîâíûì â ãîñóäàðñòâåííîé èçìåíå (a 12-person jury unanimously convicted Russian scholar Igor Sutyagin of treason). Another news service wrote: Ñóòÿãèí åäèíîãëàñíî ïðèçíàí àìåðèêàíñêèì øïèîíîì (Sutyagin was unanimously convicted of being an American spy). And a third had a different take: Ñóä íàêàçàë Ñóòÿãèíà çà óïðÿìñòâî (the court punished Sutyagin for stubbornness). Boy -- 15 years hard labor for stubbornness?! Am I in trouble, or what?
His lawyer has two other versions: Ñóä ðàñïðàâèëñÿ ñ ìîèì ïîäçàùèòíûì çà òî, ÷òî òîò îòêàçàëñÿ ïðèçíàòü ñâîþ âèíó â îáìåí íà ñìÿã÷åíèå ïðèãîâîðà (the court got even with my defendant for refusing to admit his guilt in return for a reduced sentence). Ê ñîæàëåíèþ, â ñòðàíå ñíîâà ÿâëÿåòñÿ ïðåñòóïëåíèåì íå ñàíêöèîíèðîâàííîå ãîñóäàðñòâîì îáùåíèå ñ èíîñòðàíöàìè (unfortunately, it is once again a crime in our country to have contact with foreigners that is not sanctioned by the state). Did I say trouble? Make that big trouble.
If you believe his lawyer, Sutyagin got a long sentence for failing to confess his crimes (ïðåñòóïëåíèÿ) or rather his sins (ãðåõè) -- I'm not sure what category we are talking about here. In Russian cop-talk, a voluntary, full confession is ÷èñòîñåðäå÷íîå ïðèçíàíèå -- a confession straight from the heart. No wonder it's easy to confuse sins and crimes in Russia, the boundary is rather blurred. In any case, Sutyagin maintains: "ß íå âèíîâåí" (I'm not guilty).
Now, if you have committed a sin or misdeed of a non-legal nature, you'd say: ß âèíîâàò (I'm guilty; it's my fault; I did it). Both adjectives come from âèíèòü (to accuse). While Sutyagin was awaiting trial, he was îáâèíÿåìûé (the accused). Once the jury came in with a guilty verdict, he became îñóæä¸ííûé (convicted).
The other famous îáâèíÿåìûé, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has been repenting his sins left, right and center -- or so some people maintain. Here it's a little foggy as well. In any case, to follow the discussion you need to know that ïîêàÿíèå is "a confession," "repentance," with deeply religious overtones and the sense of "public penitence." The verb is ïîêàÿòüñÿ; ðàñêàÿòüñÿ also means "to repent," but usually at a slightly lower level of breast-beating and without making amends in public.
One author writes: Íå ïîêàÿíèå ëè ýòî? Íå ñäà÷à ëè ýòî ïîçèöèé? (Is this not repentance? Is he not backing down?) He continues:  êàêîì-òî ñìûñëå ýòî ìîæíî íàçâàòü ïîêàÿíèåì, íî äàâàéòå ñêàæåì: ýòî íå ïðåñìûêàòåëüñòâî ïåðåä âëàñòüþ. Ýòî ïîêàÿíèå ïåðåä ñòðàíîé. (To some extent you can call it repentance. But in any case, it's not groveling before the authorities. It's repentance before the nation.) Ïðåñìûêàòüñÿ (to grovel) is a nasty-sounding word in Russian. You need only know that ïðåñìûêàþùååñÿ is a reptile.
Other writers had no doubts: Õîäîðêîâñêèé ïðèçíàë âèíó (Khodorkovsky admitted his guilt). Õîäîðêîâñêèé ðàñêàÿëñÿ è ïðîñèò ïðîùåíèÿ (Khodorkovsky repented and asked forgiveness). Õîäîðêîâñêèé â êîå-÷¸ì ïðèçíàëñÿ (Khodorkovsky admitted to doing something wrong). Here "â êîå-÷¸ì" is a nice touch: It conveys the sense of "something, but not everything, and maybe not what you expect."
So what's going on here is something of a religious conversion. In fact, one author writes: Õîäîðêîâñêèé -- ãëàñ âîïèþùåãî â ïóñòûíå (Khodorkovsky is a voice crying out in the wilderness). That quote came from the web site of the Communist Party. I guess there was a religious conversion there, as well.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
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