- Yoann Barbereau, sentenced in Russia, has just published a book on this "plot" of which he claims to have been a victim.
- He returns for "20 Minutes" on his experience in prison, his escapes, and his life after.
Upon his return in 2017, he had briefly told his mind-blowing story. Yoann Barbereau, this Nantes accused of sexual assault on his daughter in Russia and sentenced to 15 years in camp, has just published a book on this "plot" of which he claims to have been a victim. With Dans les goles de Sibérie (Stock) the former director of the Alliance Française in Irkutsk recounts his violent arrest followed by the very raw daily life of the prison, where he remained 71 days. He also describes his two runners, one to join the French Embassy in Moscow and the other to escape. Interview.
Until then, you had spoken more about your escape than about the very violent daily life of the prison. Why ?
This is the sentence on the cover of my book: "What you can't talk about, you have to write it down". The detention is a very significant experience, which I had killed even to my close relations, because I have this feeling that the orality is defective vis-a-vis the literature. Prison is a complex place: I have experienced violence, hierarchies between those whom we respect, strike or who become sex slaves ... It is a brutal reality but I also describe a humanity which exists even in the worst places. It was thanks to my friends that I managed to get through it every time. I protect them by not quoting them but I want to pay tribute to them.
This whole story lasted almost three years. What were the hardest moments?
The greatest suffering happens in prison when I am accused of raping my own daughter. I know she has to have gynecological exams and I fear that she is really raped, to fabricate evidence [he will finally learn that it is not]. The rest of the time, we had to find resources so as not to let myself be completely overcome by despair. My weapons have been my education, my studies of philosophy, poetry, writing ... This is what lifts us when we are in the worst darkness. I have often repeated this sentence of Spinoza: "Do not laugh, neither cry nor hate but understand".
Today, do you understand why all this happened to you?
I have no definitive explanation but there was a conjunction of factors: in 2015, we are at the worst of the Franco-Russian relationship, Russia has just invaded Crimea. I am close to the opposition mayor of Irkutsk and am divorcing my wife. A context which means that the head of the FSB, ex KGB, for career reasons, decides to launch this hazardous case against me. Why me specifically? I am not a strategic person, but I think that we wanted to "be the Fransous".
You describe the failure of French diplomacy. So much so that after joining the embassy on your own, you decide to escape ...
After a year spent there, nothing happens and my situation begins to be known to everyone. The Russian authorities refuse to negotiate and have announced that they will not let me out. I have a burst of pride and pride: I don't want to stay locked up for ten more years and I want to regain my honor. I haven't seen my daughter for too long, now that's enough. I have to go out.
In your story, you go to the third person when you tell your escapes. Why ?
It came like that, it is not a literary device. During the run, I had built a false identity, that of Landov, with an email address etc. Creating a character helped me take action. I came out of myself: I watched myself live this novel that I was playing and writing. We discover ourselves very different, like during this very violent scene that I experienced. As I join Moscow, a man rushes at me and burns my shoulder, I still carry the scars today. The experience of the prison makes me defend myself, I align it. At that moment, I became a man who indulges in extreme violence, almost capable of killing ...
How do you feel today ?
There are things that re-emerge, but I recovered by writing a book. Being recognized as a writer is a satisfaction and I come out strengthened. I am still subject to a red notice from Interpol, but I have taken steps to have it lifted, and I am simultaneously attacking Russia before the European Court of Human Rights. I settled in Douarnenez, in Brittany, and I have a second book project. There should also be an audiovisual adaptation for Dans les goles de Sibérie . I have returned to my role as father, and everything is fine today.
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