Riga journalist, brutally beaten at the concert of "Alisa" rock band, became disabled

Now Igor is a disabled person of the 1st group, and the culprit of the tragedy has not yet been found. Purely humanly outrages and surprises and the fact that from the side of the rock group (whose fan, by the way, the journalist has been since 1985), he did not even hear some banal "Hold on!" Not to mention the fact that Konstantin Kinchev, who considers himself to be an “Orthodox rocker”, could appeal to his fans to help them find witnesses to the blatant incident. I could, but, alas, for some reason I didn't. Maybe he will do more?

Maria Dubinskaya

“At some point I fell. Lay on the floor bleeding. There was a pool of blood. Blood flowed from everywhere: from ears, eyes, nose... I really felt and understood that I was dying. I saw everything that those who “returned” describe: the corridor, how I leave along it...”, - Igor told me the details of the emergency, from which it was just cold on the skin.

Igor Maiden and I worked together for many years in the Latvian Russian newspaper Vesti Segodnya, the largest Russian-language daily in the European Union, and later the only one.

Igor is a brilliant professional and a wonderful person, his publications have helped a lot of people and initiated the solution of many acute social and environmental problems. Igor was our chief editorial traveler, who traveled half the world, visited the most exotic corners of the planet; visited, of course, in Russia, from where he invariably brought the most interesting reports and interviews. And also, Igor has always loved rock music, he even took a pseudonym in honor of the British rock band Iron Maiden.

The tragedy that happened to him shocked not only Igor's relatives, but also the entire journalistic community of Latvia.

Of course, the most important thing is that he actually managed to survive after what happened, but the question of who delivered that fatal blow at a rock concert remains open. The investigation is still pending.

“Someone of Kinchev's guards and his admirers turned me into an invalid of the 1st group, all this was done, so to speak, at the same time, there was a terrible bunch of small ones. It all happened on September 19, 2019. The organizer of the concert of "Alice" in Riga was the well-known Latvian company Art Ritmi, and I orally agreed to take a photo shoot with the director of this concert and theater agency Olga Dain. “You will shoot the first three songs near the stage, and then choose any convenient place for yourself and already shoot from there”, - she told me.

That's exactly what I did. He photographed the first three songs near the stage, and then began to retreat deeper into the hall, changed the lens and stood near the sound console, from where he continued to shoot what was happening on the stage. I stand, take shots, bothering no one.

Then Kinchev's wife suddenly emerges from the darkness, literally jumps at me, tries to grab the camera. I tell her, wait, wait, it's okay, and put the camera away. But she doesn't seem to hear me, she starts waving her arms to the guards, they say, run here, run, and these buggies immediately rushed at me from all sides.

They also began to pull out the camera from me, began to press me against the wall, grabbed my hands, pulled me in one direction, then in the other ... There was just some kind of hell! One guard actually pressed me against the wall and grabbed my neck with his teeth. Completely mad people!

Immediately, the director of the group Titov jumps out of the darkness, also in a furious state, and just starts to shove me, push, again, pull out the camera. I keep repeating to them - calm down, I have an agreement about shooting with the organizers of the concert. But my words had no effect.

Kinchev's wife shouts: "Yes, I don't care who and what you agreed with there!" I say, well, how is it - "do not care", I am a journalist, I carry out an editorial task ... I show them my ID, but I see that in response there is just some kind of inadequate reaction, sheer aggression, and I understand that I don’t need these troubles, it is better to leave. Wait, I say, put the camera away and really turn to leave. And then they grab me and drag me somewhere into the corridors of the Palladium concert hall.

Here they again begin to push and pull me in all directions, again they try to grab the camera, and again I try to close it somehow in order to protect it - after all, it is an expensive professional technique. And at this moment I receive a strong blow on the head from behind. Everything floated. In a semi-conscious state, somehow I, swaying, continued to waddle towards the exit.

An ambulance arrived. They looked at me: "Oh, well, nothing like that." But they asked if I would go with them. And I'm about to pass out, I can hardly think, - muttered that I would not go, and they began to say something about signing a refusal. Just unbelieveble! The man had to be taken under white little hands and urgently taken to the hospital, but they did not.

In front of the stage at this time, the maddened fans of the group, among whom were full of neo-Nazi skinheads, raged.

But at that moment I no longer repeated the motto of the alisomans "We are together!", I was on the sidelines, I was dying. I remember how I was already leaving this world, and next to me was Oksana Osipova - my faithful and devoted friend, we have been friends with her since kindergarten, it seems, for 36 years, she held my head in her hands, and somehow I tried to make it less painful and scary for me”, - Igor said.

Somehow, it is not entirely clear how exactly, Igor managed to recover a little, although he was bleeding, and together with his friends went to the police to write a statement, to testify. Then he got home and lost consciousness there; this time an ambulance took him to the hospital.

“I've been a fan of Alisa since 1985, since the first album, Energy. Probably, I am one of the oldest alisomans in Latvia! More precisely, he was.

Kinchev, why didn't you say anything? And to Konstantin himself, and to the entire Alisa group, and her crazy fans, I want to say: we are NOT TOGETHER anymore!

Kinchev could have already turned to his “Alice's army” a hundred times and said: guys, be responsible for your actions, damn it!

And, of course, I think that he could have supported me a hundred times already: hold on, guy, it happens, hold on!

But no: in his opinion, the fans of "Alice" are, probably, solid saints, he constantly talks about the fact that grace descends on the listeners at his concerts!", - Igor notes with a bitter smile.

“The director of the Alice group, of course, knows what happened. As soon as I got out of the coma and returned home, they called him in front of me and told about what happened to me. But there was no reaction. Into the bushes, into the bushes!”, - the journalist shared.

Igor is sure: in fact, the blow to the head was inflicted so accurately and professionally that one can safely speak about the intention to kill him, the intracerebral hemorrhage was the strongest.

The doctors saved my colleague literally by a miracle. A huge hematoma formed, he spent eight days in a coma, but survived. Igor developed paralysis of the left side of his body, which required four major operations and long-term rehabilitation, money for which was collected by the whole world.

It so happens that life tests you for strength, both literally and figuratively, and from all sides at once: when misfortune happened to Igor, his wife left him. He was still in the hospital when she told his mother in plain text that she “had not been hired as a nurse”.

"I used to think that this only happens in cheap serials, but it turned out that I was wrong".

But his faithful friends remained with Igor, they helped him refurbish the bathroom and kitchen so that he could wash and cook on his own. They often visit him to help with the housework.

“I continue to recover to this day. I attend special trainings every day, the progress is noticeable. I even learned to walk again, though so far only with a cane, of course. Recently a neurologist came to me and said that after such a severe injury, I was in the best possible condition in principle!”, - Igor says.

In general, he does not lose heart, our Igor. He is not one of those who give up, he managed to maintain cheerfulness and optimism.

As for the investigation, Igor believes that it can last "until it goes bad". Everything happens very slowly.

On the fact of the attack on the journalist Igor Maiden and causing harm to his health in September 2019, a criminal trial was launched in Riga. But the specific perpetrators have not yet been identified and punished.

“I have been working on this case since last autumn. I immediately went to the investigator who was in charge of the case and said that he would like to talk as a lawyer on the part of the victim, which was refused. It was weird. Then I made an official request to the police and received an answer, they say, the investigation is underway, but there will be no explanations", - Mikhail Chernousov, Igor Mayden's lawyer, told the Riga weekly Saturday.

“But just the other day, we finally got through to the prosecutors. They wrote a request to the police: why are you doing so badly, why with so much evidence, witnesses and possible "strings" you do nothing? There is no answer yet. But we will try to reach out to the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Latvia.

By the way, we know all the names and surnames of those who then came with the Alisa group to Riga from St. Petersburg, as well as the names of all the guards from the Russian side", - Igor explained to me. The Latvian company Defender, which included both Latvian security guards and Alisa's security guards, was in charge of security at the concert.

So, the group "Alice" and its management, it turns out, simply ignored the terrible incident and did not even tried to somehow support the journalist, which, you see, would be completely logical and NORMAL, but what is there - just humanly.

Despite this, Igor Maiden expresses the hope that through the publication in Novye Izvestia it will be possible to reach the conscience of rock musicians and Konstantin Kinchev will nevertheless appeal to his listeners and fans with an appeal to share the details of what happened at the Riga concert in 2019.

And it would, of course, be even better if "Alice" conducted her own investigation of this nightmare incident, since it seems that the group's security itself, and not just its distraught fans, were involved in it.

World practice knows many cases when people were injured at concerts, after which the performers, sincerely sympathizing with the victims and feeling their share and responsibility, apologized to them for the behavior of the crowd, expressed support, and in the end even helped financially! Especially if significant harm was caused to health, as in the case of Igor.

Meanwhile, the costs of treatment at Igor Maiden are huge, the journalist has to pay for everything on his own. And compensation for the physical and moral damage caused can be determined and paid only after the investigation is over.

Overwork and stress for Igor, of course, are contraindicated, but he also cannot do without his favorite journalism. My dear colleague found the strength to write, he continues to publish in various publications, in a word, he made another feat and returned to the journalistic system. Of course, this greatly helps him not only to stay on a positive wave, but also elementary allows him to make ends meet.

“I very much ask everyone who may have seen the participants in the crime: please respond, become witnesses, help me and the police solve this case, because the criminals have to answer what they deserve - this is fair, and I suffered completely undeservedly”, - says Igor.

I would like to believe that "Alice" will react and provide assistance, the perpetrators will be found and will be punished, and most importantly, Igor will still be able to fully restore his health.

With the permission of Igor Maiden, we publish his email address: [email protected] His phone number can be requested in the editorial office.