"Performance on a federal scale." Why did the Investigative Committee not initiate a criminal case of sexual harassment in the League of Schools?

"League of Schools" opened in 1994 in the Moscow district of Yasenevo. In January 2015, alumni investigating sexual misconduct met with school officials and demanded they resign. Izyumov quickly agreed with them, saying that he was “tired of all this.” Bebchuk did not admit his guilt at that meeting and said that he “does not understand what kind of broken destinies we are talking about.”

In February 2015, a month after the meeting with graduates, an announcement appeared on the school’s website about its imminent closure: “The problem is that the school, which was conceived and opened more than twenty years ago, cannot exist in today’s conditions of a greatly narrowed legislative framework can't do it anymore." Graduates, as Meduza writes, demanded that the real reasons for the closure not be mentioned in this announcement. As one of the victims told the online publication, the graduates did not want to “make a fuss so that a good memory remains of the school.”

As a result, Bebchuk served in his position until mid-June - the end of the academic year, and Izyumov stopped appearing in it after meeting with graduates.

Bebchuk has not yet given any comments on the topic. His acquaintances told Meduza that he recently suddenly changed his place of residence, leaving the apartment where he lived the entire time he worked as the director of the League of Schools.

“Carsten studied for the third year in the Moscow “League of Schools” (they were recruited into it from the 7th grade), the director of which was Bebchuk. The school administration often sent those who were lagging behind to improve their knowledge in a house he owned in the village of Bobrovo, a six-hour drive from the city<...>

Karsten arrived in Bobrovo having failed a test exam in mathematics - in a month she had to pass the state final certification, mandatory for all ninth-graders. Together with a friend, they went to the bathhouse, undressed and wrapped themselves in towels. Bebchuk, a disheveled bearded man who looked like the traveler Fyodor Konyukhov, came in next and did the same; and they began to solve problems. To the surprise of the schoolgirls, it actually turned out better.

The next day, Karsten went to the bathhouse to solve problems alone - her classmate had left, and only the director himself, his wife Anastasia, who taught art history at the League of Schools, and their children remained in Bobrovo. Bebchuk periodically came to visit the student. When it turned out that classes were not going as well as yesterday, he suggested taking a break and taking a steam bath.

The teacher asked Karsten to take off the towel and lie on her stomach. After steaming her with a broom, he sat down on the bench next to her and hugged her. “You are a very smart and beautiful girl, everything will be fine, we will succeed,” Bebchuk said and kissed the 15-year-old schoolgirl on the lips. Then he hugged him tighter; kissed forehead, cheeks, hair; said that he loved her and that “everything will be fine”<...>

Similar stories, as graduates and former employees of the school told Meduza, were repeated at the League of Schools for 21 years - the entire time it existed; Previously, similar cases occurred at school “X”, where Bebchuk had worked before. Meduza is aware of more than two dozen people who said they were victims of sexual violence and harassment by Bebchuk and his deputy Nikolai Izyumov<...>

For several years, there was a theater studio in the League of Schools, led by Irina Dmitrieva<...>After the rehearsal, they walked together to the metro with Tatyana Karsten - she had recently suddenly left school (this rarely happened in the League), but continued to go to rehearsals - and she told the teacher how Bebchuk pestered her in Bobrovo. A few weeks later, Dmitrieva learned from friends that Bebchuk had been having sex with his student Vera Volyak for several years.

Dmitrieva decided to find out whether the violence was systematic. She began to look for victims among pretty graduates, called graduates and invited them to visit her, and talked with teachers. One of the graduates began to cry in response to Dmitrieva’s questions: she remembered how Bebchuk sat her on his knees, defended her at the expulsion meeting, and then said: “You will be in my debt.”

At the end of 2014, Volyak, one of the first graduates of the League of Schools, recorded a video message at the request of investigators. “I was tormented by all this for many years,” said Volyak. “Why am I talking about this 20 years later? I’m 35, then I was 14. I’m now the same age as [Bebchuk and Izyumov] were when [they] did this to me And it is completely unacceptable for me that I will be with some child... I moved to England and worked as a teacher for six years. And now I understand that it is unacceptable for a teacher, a person in a position of power, to have a sexual relationship [with my students]. I had a daughter myself. If I found out that a man I should trust was groping and fucking my 14-year-old daughter, I wouldn’t think about what to do with this man. I want them to not ruin anyone else’s years of life.” .

Over time, graduates of the “League of Schools” from different years, including those who were affected by the attacks of teachers, joined the search for victims. Over the course of two months, based on the results of a survey of their classmates, they compiled a table of dozens of cases.”

Today the biggest scandal of the week continued. The secrets of an elite lyceum in Moscow - graduates spoke about the monstrous acts of their mentors. The director and his deputy are suspected of sexual crimes against children.

The former head of the school, which closed in 2015, hid from reporters. But Channel One correspondents found him. Exclusive footage - today Sergei Bebchuk was brought to the Investigative Committee.

All questions have already been asked, Sergei Bebchuk has already left the ICR building. He stayed inside for about two hours.

For three days, while the scandal was raging, the former director of school 1199 Sergei Bebchuk was hiding from journalists. He was not at home, his phone was turned off. Today he was taken to the Investigative Committee office for a preliminary conversation.

Vera Volyak is a woman who, 20 years later, decided to give an extremely frank interview to Channel One. She now lives in London and painfully talks about her relationship with Sergei Bebchuk during high school. In the photographs of that time there is a thoughtful girl. According to her, encouragement and attention from the teacher overpowered her disgust for everything that was happening. She just didn't understand the seriousness. On the eve of his own wedding, Sergei Bebchuk, according to the woman, touched her for the last time. It was already 11th grade.

Sergei Bebchuk began teaching computer science in 1988. He was known among specialists: he was one of the ten strongest programmers in the country, he even got into the American specialized encyclopedia for the year 1990, he opened his “League of Schools” in 1994. A place for gifted children, careful selection of students and teachers. His authority, as graduates recall, was unquestionable. He was told to come to his dacha to improve his mathematics - the children went. It was said that in the bathhouse, due to the high temperature, blood rushes to the brain, and the problems crack like nuts - the students went to the bathhouse. And if Vera Volyak’s story is about the 90s, then about two dozen more shocking confessions are heard in the press about the 2000s.

The deputy director, economics teacher Nikolai Izyumov is also accused of sexual harassment of the graduate. He gives one interview after another. He says that offended girls who want revenge have taken up arms against them. Why is that a logical question? And the answer is a story about Bebchuk’s same dacha. The weather was hot, and one of the students constantly wore a swimsuit and, according to the teacher, flirted with men. Bebchuk decided to teach her a lesson.

Why did girls sometimes voluntarily allow themselves to be hugged and kissed? Where were the parents looking? After all, we are talking about an established system that has existed for 20 years! And, finally, where was the teacher-student distance, verified to the smallest detail?

Judging by the cap pulled tightly over his eyes and his reluctance to communicate with the press, Sergei Bebchuk intends to remain silent until the last moment. So far this story has more questions than answers. After all, all factual evidence of intimate relationships with graduates, if they existed, has long been lost.

The sex scandal at the League of Schools, a prestigious educational institution for gifted children, is acquiring new details. The teachers themselves, who allegedly raped their students, deny their guilt. They claim that the numerous stories of victims have nothing to do with reality. Recently, video messages from girls appeared on the Internet accusing director Sergei Bebchuk and his deputy Nikolai Izyumov of harassment. These videos, dating from different years, were posted in the media with the consent of their authors.

The first video that surfaced after the sex scandal dates back to 2014 and was recorded by Tatyana Karsten. The girl talked about what happened to her in the 9th grade during the May holidays. According to Tatyana, students of the “League of Schools” often went to the director’s dacha. Sergei Bebchuk and his wife Anastasia Loseva, who taught art history, insisted that the girl go out of town.

Karsten said that there was no bathroom at the director’s dacha. Therefore, the schoolchildren went to the bathhouse to wash. That time it so happened that at some point Tatyana was left alone. Sergei Alexandrovich advised her to work out in the bathhouse. But the schoolgirl did not do well, and Bebchuk suggested treating the naked student with a broom. Then, according to Karsten, the man began to molest her. Tatyana was scared and didn’t know what to do. She wanted to tell the director’s wife about what happened, but she couldn’t. Carsten says she was uncomfortable with the thought of the woman being hurt by what happened. In the end, she convinced herself that there was nothing wrong with it, since men fall in love with girls. The ninth-grader was also afraid that someone might get hurt and the school would be closed.

“He sat down next to me on the bench and hugged me. He said that I was a very smart and beautiful girl. That he has been in love with me for a long time. I didn’t expect so much that this could happen that, probably from shock, from fear, from everything together, I sat and didn’t know what to do... He asked me: “Perhaps I’m doing something bad, pestering you?” I said I don't know. We stood at the door, then he hugged me, kissed my forehead, cheeks, hair, I don’t know. He said how good I am, how he loves me. I was 17 years old at that moment, which is probably important to mention,” said Tatyana.

Another appeal that appeared on the Internet belongs to Vera Volyak. She recorded it for the first time in 2014, but after journalists conducted an investigation, the girl invited them to answer the questions again.

According to Volyak, Bebchuk forced her to have an intimate relationship with him. The first time this happened was when the schoolgirl was 14 years old. “You can’t say that it was, as you call it, petting or caresses, something like that, kissing or touching, no, it was full sex,” she said. Vera also claims that the director could organize orgies, and his wife was aware of what was happening. Moreover, Loseva herself was a participant in a group intimate relationship.

Volyak also said that many victims did not want to advertise what happened to them. When they graduated from school, they did not remember this. Vera stated that she herself tried to forget about everything. She didn't think this could happen to other students.

In addition, Volyak openly spoke about what Izyumov allegedly committed against his students. Usually the deputy director allegedly preferred to hug schoolgirls, but once he undressed in the presence of Vera and was ready to cross the line. But this did not happen.

“I saw his answers now in an interview, and he says, like, what’s wrong, did I stroke someone? If you have a girl sitting on your lap, and you have, how to say, an erection, and you stroke her breasts, in my opinion, this is very far from a handshake. He simply closed the door - you go into his office, he closes the door and then, whatever, caresses you, presses you. I'm not saying I had sex with him. There was no full sex,” the girl claims.

Vera told a Meduza correspondent that the director and his deputy allegedly emotionally persuaded the pupils to have intimate relationships. For a long time she did not dare to talk about it, but she overcame herself.

In turn, the alleged “rapists” continue to deny the accusations. Recently, the deputy director published an appeal to the public in which he shared his version of what happened. Izyumov claims that he was not involved in any incidents of violence, and the news about this seriously undermined his health. According to a former employee of the scandalous school, he has not stopped getting sick since 2015.

“I call all accusations slander. This is a story about a group of very good people with whom we were on very good terms all the years, were friends with many, joyfully met at alumni reunions,” the man said.

Izyumov assured that he has many joint photographs with graduates and postcards from former students. The former head teacher of the League of Schools drew attention to the fact that many teachers from the now closed educational institution supported him.

“Not a single girl in the last year of study in any class could accuse me of harassment, because this did not happen - one, because these girls do not need such accusations - two. Who needs them? That's right, after years to the aunties. Because accusations of pedophilia over the years, as you know, are always a desire for revenge. For what? This is a difficult conversation. Everyone probably has their own reasons,” he says.

The man also reported that many are trying to help him. “Now I receive many more calls, letters and messages from people who support and say kind words than accusations from outsiders,” he said. Izyumov claims that the investigation published in the media does not provide all the details of what happened. According to him, some graduates themselves provoked representatives of the opposite sex. “You can have different attitudes towards Sergei Alexandrovich’s methods, but he didn’t seduce her [one of the alleged victims] or divide her. He just showed her what could be. But she didn’t forgive,” Izyumov said.

Recently, information appeared on the Internet that students were allegedly raped in the prestigious “League of Schools” for 25 years. The specific names of the offenders were also named - the director of the educational institution, Sergei Bebchuk, and his deputy, Nikolai Izyumov. Journalists conducted an investigation and found out the details of the scandalous story. Later, shocking video messages from graduates who claimed harassment from Bebchuk and Izyumov appeared on the Internet.

The Investigative Committee became interested in the data published in the media. They initiated an investigation into the publication in the online publication. At the same time, social network users began harassing “rapists” on the Internet. They wrote angry comments on Izyumov’s page. The man himself answered some of them. He continues to deny his guilt.

Later, graduates and teachers of the League of Schools, who disagreed with the accusations against Bebchuk and Izyumov, created a page on social networks. They are calling for the reputation of a prestigious educational institution for gifted children to be restored. According to defenders of the educational institution, it can be destroyed in a matter of hours. This is what happened after journalists initiated heated discussions about the sex scandal.

// Photo: frame from the lecture "Polit.ru"

Thus, ex-school teacher Vasily Tumanov believes that the information published in the media reveals only one point of view on what was happening. “There was a rewriting of other people’s versions of events, which cannot be directly verified. It would be possible to compare the testimonies of the same people (as in the case of Tatyana Karsten), to compare the testimonies of different people about the same events, but we, the readers, saw nothing of this,” the man notes.

Tumanov also commented on the reasons for the closure of the educational institution. Previously, a version was put forward that this happened because of a sex scandal that arose, which they wanted to hush up. However, according to the teacher, the cessation of the school was due to the “narrowed scope of the legislative field.” The teacher noted that the administration of the educational institution did everything possible for its continued existence, but it was not possible to cope with external circumstances.

A group of teachers also expressed their opinion, declaring that they were sending a collective letter to the prosecutor's office. The initiator of the appeal was Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences and Professor German Levitas. The man is outraged by the large number of lies that, in his opinion, former teachers of a unique school and its graduates had to face. German Grigorievich was supported by 12 of his former colleagues.

“Unverified rumors are being spread in the media about alleged cases of molestation of girls by the leaders of this school. I worked there as a mathematics teacher for 14 years: from 2001 until its closure - and I did not observe anything similar at the school... This discredits the name of one of the best pedagogical institutions in our country. A very important feature of this school was that the school lived like one family, with its own internal joys and sorrows, agreements and disputes, quarrels and consolations. Dirty people can always see in this what interests them most. But in defense against them, the principle of the presumption of innocence must apply,” said Levitas.

2014 graduate Fathi El-Kuhoun said his high school years were the best thing that ever happened to him. He stated that children who, for whatever reason, left the walls of his favorite educational institution could think about revenge. The young man claims that he is personally acquainted with the director Sergei Bebchuk, accused of violence, and his close people. Fathi finds the accusations against the man unfair. According to El-Kuhun, Bebchuk is not capable of molesting minors. The director of the League of Schools, says Fathi, strived to impart knowledge to his students and therefore sometimes even sacrificed his weekends.

“It was so incredible that at first I refused to believe that it was possible. I spent whole days there from morning to evening, although I was never a diligent student. It’s just that this place was always in full swing with life, in this school you could easily communicate with students and, most importantly, teachers at any time. And everyone who studied at the League of Schools for at least a month fell in love with this informal atmosphere,” recalls El-Kuhun.

Eight other graduates united and wrote a collective letter, which they published on social networks. The young people expressed categorical disagreement with the accusations brought against the director and his wife, as well as the head teacher of the educational institution.

“We grew up in the League of Schools. It was there that we became who we are... Sergei Alexandrovich, Nikolai Mikhailovich, Anastasia Stanislavovna - these are the teachers without whom the “League of Schools” would not have appeared, and we are very grateful to them for the fact that such a miracle happened in 1994... The League had many difficulties. On the one hand, difficulties with financing, with a building, with food, and on the other hand with people. We did not think that those people who were not close to the “League” life would decide to collectively express their dislike,” says the publication of former students.

Alumni said that everyone at school knew each other and maintained an atmosphere of trust. “We were as honest as possible with each other, and if conflicts arose between us, they were quickly resolved. With such a system of relations, it was impossible to hide anything,” they note.

Later, a new detail regarding the flared sex scandal surfaced on the Internet. It turned out that there was a conflict of interest. Former editor-in-chief of Finanz Pavel Miledin drew attention to the fact that the general director of the school, Sergei Bebchuk, and the alleged brother of one of the victims, Petr Volyak, are mentioned in the SPARK system as the owner and general director of a software company. The patronymic and registration of this possible relative of the victim coincides with the data of Vera Volyak. The fact discovered by the journalist raised many questions in him.

After some time, the editor-in-chief of the publication, where an investigation into violence with the League of Schools appeared, responded to Miledin. Ivan Kolpakov said that there are no hidden business interests in this story.

“I consider such an assumption irresponsible. In addition to this heroine, we have two dozen testimonies from former students of the League of Schools, including those recorded on video, plus a significant amount of documentary evidence, among which the most important is a recording of a meeting between graduates and Bebchuk (during which Bebchuk indirectly confirms his involvement in sexual harassment and accepts an ultimatum),” the journalist said.

In January 2017, the Meduza portal shocked the public with the details of the author’s investigation by Daniil Turovsky, in which the journalist spoke about numerous cases of harassment by the director of the Moscow school for gifted children “League of Schools” Sergei Bebchuk and the head teacher Nikolai Izyumov towards their young students. And recently, two victims from among the students of the ill-fated school, Tatyana Karsten and Vera Volyak, recorded video messages with a story about what happened at the school.

Nikolay Izyumov
As former student of school No. 1199, “League of Schools” Tatyana Karsten said in her video message, the “slippery” between her and the school director Sergei Bebchuk happened when the young lady was in the 9th grade, during the May holidays.

“I was a 9th grade student... and was preparing for the State Examination, including computer science,... mathematics and geometry. I was not very successful in all this, and Bebchuk insisted that... during the May holidays I I went to his dacha in the village of Bobrovo,” Tatyana said in her appeal, clarifying that the director regularly called students to his dacha.

According to her, Bebchuk did not have a bathroom at his dacha, all of us, the students, went to the bathhouse to wash - both boys and girls - went to the bathhouse, wrapped ourselves in towels, played some kind of memory game, and then washed.
“Sergei Aleksandrovich had the idea to work out in the bathhouse. Since the temperature there is very high, the blood thins out, enters the brain, and it’s more important to think... I don’t remember how long we were there, quite a long time... Bebchuk came in from time to time and went out... That day, when I was alone, he suggested that I go to the bathhouse again, alone in his presence. I didn’t have any second thoughts, but I didn’t really like this idea... I undressed and wrapped myself in a towel. , the ABCs of solving problems... Sergei Aleksandrovich came in alone a few times, testing what I was doing... Then he suggested that before washing me, he should treat me with a broom... I don’t know why I agreed, it only dawned on me when he said to take it off. He treated me with a broom. It was obvious that I was not wearing any clothes. Subsequently, he helped me put on the towel, sat down next to me, and said that I was a very smart and beautiful girl, that he had been in love with me for a long time, and that. “Everything will be fine with us,” the former student reported.

"I didn't know what to do from shock. I had never been in such a situation, so I just sat. He asked me to kiss. I became very afraid. He kissed me... It was as if at that moment it dawned on him that something false is happening... I pretended that everything was fine... I was afraid that all this would become famous, the school would be closed, people would suffer because of me, however, after some time I found out that I was. not alone, that there were countless other girls, and much worse things happened to them than to me,” Tatyana added.

Recite in MK: Graduates of the famous “League of Schools” accused the director and deputy of harassment

Actually, her “colleague” in the video message, Vera Volyak, talks about these more terrible things.

“When this happened the first time, I was 14 years old, right... Bebchuk invited me to stay at his house... It’s impossible to say that it was petting or caresses, kissing or touching, no, it was absolute sex... Before the Bobrovo dacha, there was another dacha in Fomino. There was also a bathhouse, and everyone washed in it together... When I arrived there, there were two younger girls there - 13-14 years old... She did not agree to tell her stories, ... but I know that she retreated from school, and she felt bad for a long time... After these girls moved away, I was left alone with Bebchuk and Anastasia (Bebchuk’s grandmother Anastasia Stanislavovna Loseva - ed.) in this Fomino. There was group sex in Fomino, there were no witnesses, there were three of us there,” says Volyak.

There were also several cases with Izyumov. He doesn't understand the line between a friendly handshake and sexual contact. I saw his answers in an interview, they say, what is it that I stroked someone? However, if you have a girl sitting on your lap, and you have an erection, and you stroke her breasts, in my opinion, this is far from a handshake. .. I'm not saying that I had sex with him. There was no absolute sex,” Vera said.
“They were in a position of power. For us, they were people whom we respected and placed on a pedestal,” the young lady added her “pliable” behavior to pedophiles.

"I had no idea that this was going on. For me, it was the story of the coffin of the 1990s... I had absolutely no idea that this was still going on with 14-15 year old girls!" - Vera Volyak emphasized.

“When you know something like this, you can’t remain silent,” summed up Tanya Karsten.