Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, February 08, 2013

Bizarre coup plot lands Russian folk hero in jail for 13 years

MOSCOW—A retired Russian military intelligence colonel has been found guilty of leading a bizarre plot that envisioned a group of elderly people taking over the government.

Prosecutors say Vladimir Kvachkov, 64, organized a group who planned to seize power by training crossbow-wielding men to seize military depots and then descend upon Moscow with tanks.

Moscow City Court on Friday sentenced him to 13 years in prison for attempting to organize an armed uprising. A retired police captain, 62-year-old Alexey Kiselev, was sentenced to 11 years as a co-conspirator.

Kvachkov, who denied the charges, became a nationalist folk hero after twice being acquitted for a 2005 assassination attempt on former deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais, the mastermind of Russia’s 1990s privatization drive.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: AP

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