Penza, 30 November 2016. PenzaNews. The law-enforcement authorities exculpated Andrei Zuev, ex-deputy of the Penza region Legislative Assembly of the Penza region for the CPRF faction, a year after they opened a criminal case on racketeering against him. Andrei Zuev said that when he was in isolation ward he felt like a political prisoner.

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“In isolation ward I felt that I am different from others, that I am a political prisoner. For the staff of the Penza Federal Penitentiary Service department I was a typical arrested person, but I saw that they knew why I was there. I did not kill anyone, did not steal anything but I was there because of my views,” Andrei Zuev said in an exclusive interview to the PenzaNews editor Pavel Polosin.

He emphasized that he was disliked by members of those days’ government.

“Why then the law-enforcement authorities did not show any interest to my affairs all these years if it happened so many years ago [at the beginning of 2000s]? Why did it start only when I crossed some boarder, as they see it, the government I mean, when I became an obstacle for them. They had to get rid of me,” Andrei Zuev said.

According to the ex-deputy, Vasily Bochkarev, who occupied the post of the governor at that time, perceived him as a threat, as an oppositionist who could object, openly express his opinion in the regional parliament as well as in political meetings.

“Yes, I think he saw that if they did not stop me at that time, they would later have even more problems. Moreover, it was the time for him to know whether he is reelected or not,” Andrei Zuev said.

“It is very important, in my opinion, that at that time he had to show the Kremlin how fast and clever he was, how easily he could deal with the disliked. It was not enough to put a person in prison and to make him a martyr, it was important to do everything nicely so that the very top knew about it. I believe, he definitely thought the Kremlin would appreciate it. But it is only my opinion, nothing more,” he added.