Today in Paris is another act of rebellion of the "yellow vests". It so happened that today there will be no ordinary action: many come out in support of the outstanding revolutionary, a prisoner of the French prison, Ilyich Ramirez Sanchez (Carlos). And of course, today I will celebrate his anniversary on the street with ordinary French workers, hard workers: Carlos is 70 today.

We (well, many of us) have heard about French justice. There is a French baguette, there is high fashion, the Eiffel Tower and - yes - justice. Can these nice people, among whom were Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas, engage in dirty political games? As it turned out, they can perfectly. Not a revelation, of course, but it makes us once again look at France without pink glasses. Well, first-hand.

A year ago, I went to Paris for a hearing on the case of the famous underground revolutionary Ilyich Carlos, who was imprisoned for more than twenty years. It is perhaps necessary to recall that he ended up there, being abducted from his own bed by mercenaries from Blackwater in 1994. Then the French state throughout the world said that the extradition of Carlos was carried out in accordance with international law. Only years later, a number of media outlets published evidence of the abduction.

In subsequent years, the French succeeded in demonizing Carlos by issuing tabloid books and publications. The same technique was used later in the United States, when Russian businessman Viktor Bout was de facto abducted. Shortly before its delivery to the United States in Hollywood, the film “The Arms Baron” was presented, in which Booth, played by the charming Nicholas Cage, was portrayed as a monster, an unprincipled death trader.

This film explained to housewives that Booth did not deserve leniency. Well, who will protect the person whose Mephistopheles activity condemned many dozens of people from conditional Rwanda to death? So in the case of Carlos - Hollywood came to the rescue with its best actors, primarily Bruce Willis. I like Willis and Cage - we will definitely make films about them later. With Mickey Rourke and Sergey Bezrukov.

Let me remind you again - watch your hands - the last sentence imposed on Carlos dates back to 2017. And now attention: he is charged in the case from 1974 - 44 years have passed from the moment of the incident to the trial. After this time, the standard answers of the witnesses to all questions of the court: “I do not remember. I can not say for sure. I’m not sure what he might be like. ” These are the phrases I heard in the first few days of the hearing. It is reasonable to say: if there are no convincing witnesses, provide convincing evidence.

But here embarrassment happened: the main evidence is extracts from fiction books written at different times. Personally, I counted several writers at once in the hall.

On the one hand, I am pleased with the special attention with which the representatives of Themis and French society in general treat writers, but it is difficult for me to imagine this in our country, in our courts, which opposition journalists and bloggers love to criticize.

“I do not believe any of their words. The funny thing is how they in their robes pretend to follow the letter of the law. They do this because they know: now there is neither the KGB nor the USSR, ”Carlos told me.

That day he handed me a letter for very important people in Russia. And I passed it.

Today, Carlos turns 70 years old - he ironically refers to age. Every morning in his cell he puts on the best Italian costume and lights a cigar (boxes are brought from friends from revolutionary Cuba). Carlos looks out the window and thinks ...

What can the old revolutionary think about? About the collapse of the Soviet idea? About the collapse of the Eastern bloc? Or maybe about his release?

No. Carlos believes that Moscow was reborn thanks to Putin. Though not the Soviet Union, but Russia again accepted its mission: to help the oppressed, wherever they are. One of them - a prisoner of Poisset Prison - has the right to such assistance more than others.

Happy birthday, Ilyich!

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.