Monstrous sentences against Crimean Tatar journalists & activists (16 September 2020) In the last decades of the Soviet regime, dissidents received 7-10-year sentences for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda". Modern Russia, persecuting Ukrainian citizens on illegally occupied territory for their religious beliefs and political views, is doubling such sentences. Seven Crimean Tatar civic journalists and activists … Continue reading Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea (2020)
Samizdat Update, July 1974 (32.21)
In March 1974, A.I. Solzhenitsyn published his “Letter to the Soviet Leaders”, which he had written earlier, on 5 September 1973. The letter aroused a great number of responses of the most varied nature. The first of these responses was by A.D. Sakharov, “On Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Letter to The Soviet Leaders”. In view of the … Continue reading Samizdat Update, July 1974 (32.21)
In the Moscow Writers’ Organisation, Spring 1974 (32.17) V. Voinovich
The Expulsion of Vladimir Voinovich from the USSR Writers’ Union A meeting of the bureau of the prose section was arranged several times and cancelled for lack of a quorum: the majority of bureau members failed to appear “because of illness”. The meeting eventually took place on 30 January 1974. Georgy Radov was in the … Continue reading In the Moscow Writers’ Organisation, Spring 1974 (32.17) V. Voinovich
In the Moscow Writers’ Organisation, Spring 1974 (32.17) L.K. Chukovskaya
The Expulsion of Lydia Chukovskaya from the USSR Writers’ Union In March 1974, the Information Bulletin of the Board Secretariat of the USSR Writers' Union (an internal publication of the Secretariat) contained the following announcement: In the Secretariat of the Board of the Moscow Writers’ OrganizationThe disciplinary case of L.K. Chukovskaya was discussed at a … Continue reading In the Moscow Writers’ Organisation, Spring 1974 (32.17) L.K. Chukovskaya
The Trial of Mikhail Kheifets, 9-13 September 1974 (34.2)
No 34 : 31 December 1974 From 9 to 13 September 1974 the Leningrad City Court, composed of Judge Karlov and people’s assessors Karpov and Kosenko, heard the case of M.R. Kheifets. (For details of his arrest and the pre-trial investigation see CCE 32.) Kheifets was charged under Article 70 of the RSFSR Criminal Code. … Continue reading The Trial of Mikhail Kheifets, 9-13 September 1974 (34.2)
The Trial of Vladimir Maramzin, 19-21 February 1975 (35.4)
No 35 : 31 March 1975 From 19 to 21 February 1975 Vladimir Rafailovich Maramzin, a prose writer, a member of the trade union group among the writers at the Leningrad branch of the Soviet Writer publishing house, was on trial at the Leningrad City Court. The presiding judge was Isakova, the people’s assessors were … Continue reading The Trial of Vladimir Maramzin, 19-21 February 1975 (35.4)
The Trial of Georgy Vins, 27-31 January 1975 (35.3)
Kiev, 27-31 January 1975 The court building was guarded by a detachment of police. Entrance was by special pass only. A group of religious believers were pushed back to the other side of the street. * The defendant was Georgy Petrovich Vins, b. 1928, Secretary of the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians and Baptists … Continue reading The Trial of Georgy Vins, 27-31 January 1975 (35.3)
A Letter to the Chronicle from G. Superfin, May 1975 (36.13)
At the end of March 1974, on reading the materials of my ‘criminal’ case (No. 27), conducted by the Oryol Region KGB, I officially informed Captain Oleg S. Ilin, who led the investigation (see a reference to him in the “Statement to the Press” made by E.V. Barabanov on 15 September 1973), that I would … Continue reading A Letter to the Chronicle from G. Superfin, May 1975 (36.13)
Samizdat Update, May 1975 (36.12)
[1] Boris Khazanov, “The New Russia” (9 pages) The author discusses Motherland, patriotism and the problem of emigration. "Fear and the slavery which we imbibed with our mothers’ milk have prevented us from pushing off from the shore. "This means that we are unworthy of being called free men and unworthy of freedom. We deserve … Continue reading Samizdat Update, May 1975 (36.12)
Letters and Statements, May 1975 (36.11)
[1] Danylo Shumuk (CCE 28.16) has already applied twice to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet to have his Soviet citizenship withdrawn (10 December 1972; 10 December 1973). On 1 August 1974 Shumuk appealed to the UN Human Rights Commission: “As I have already appealed twice to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet … Continue reading Letters and Statements, May 1975 (36.11)
Soviet Dissent and “Index on Censorship”
A LETTER FROM MOSCOW (8 August 1968) The original impetus for the creation of the Index on Censorship magazine came from an Open Letter addressed "To World Public Opinion" by two Soviet dissenters, Pavel Litvinov and Larisa Bogoraz. Larisa Bogoraz and Pavel Litvinov, Moscow Describing "the atmosphere of illegality" surrounding the January 1968 trial of … Continue reading Soviet Dissent and “Index on Censorship”
The Bell Affair, 1965 to the present
<< Note: all references are in Russian >> Over half a century ago, on 12 June 1965, the KGB carried out 30 raids in Leningrad, targeting those involved in the production and circulation of The Bell (Kolokol), an underground magazine.[1] That day the following members of the group were arrested: Valery Ronkin, Sergei Khakhayev, Veniamin … Continue reading The Bell Affair, 1965 to the present
The Death of Anatoly Marchenko (8 December 1986)
USSR News Brief, 15 December 1986 (Issue 22/23-1) On 8 December 1986 Anatoly MARCHENKO (b. 1938), a political prisoner for many years, died in the maximum-security Chistopol Prison (Tatarstan). For several months prior to his death, he had been on hunger strike, started on 8 August 1986 (1986: 17-7, 15 September). Official reports of his … Continue reading The Death of Anatoly Marchenko (8 December 1986)
About the Journal “Veche”, April-July 1974 (32.13)
<<No 32 : 17 July 1974>> On 19 April 1974, issue No. 10 of the journal Veche [Gathering or Moot] appeared. The chief editor is not V.N. Osipov, under whose signature the previous nine issues appeared, but I.V. Ovchinnikov. As far as can be judged from the series of statements made by the journal’s editor … Continue reading About the Journal “Veche”, April-July 1974 (32.13)
Moscow’s Unofficial Scientific Seminar, July 1974 (32.12)
«No 32 : 17 July 1974» A group of Jewish scientists who wish to emigrate to Israel and have for long been deprived of work and scholarly contacts with their colleagues in the USSR, have invited the international scientific community to attend an international seminar in Moscow devoted to the application of physics and mathematics … Continue reading Moscow’s Unofficial Scientific Seminar, July 1974 (32.12)
An Unpublished Decree, July 1974 (32.11)
«No 32 : 17 July 1974» An Unpublished Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, No. 3707-VIII, 25 December 1972. As the Chronicle reported (CCE 30.13, December 1973) this decree had been applied to several citizens. From January to June 1974 a number of other citizens were issued with a caution on the … Continue reading An Unpublished Decree, July 1974 (32.11)
