IN THE CAMPS AND PRISONS
- 12-1. Political Prisoners Day; Diary of Camp 35.
- 12-2. Perm Camps 36 & 37; Mordovia & Vladimir Prison. Belorussia, Georgia, Krasnoyarsk Region; Letters & appeals from political prisoners.
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1. Political Prisoners’ Day 1975.
On 31 October 1975 a press-conference took place in Moscow to mark Political Prisoners’ Day in the USSR. This day was first observed a year ago by political prisoners and their families.
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The participants in the press-conference informed journalists about the draft statute on political prisoners drawn up in the camps of Mordovia and Perm. The draft had been signed by 71 political prisoners and sent to the USSR Supreme Soviet.
The authors of the draft statute define political prisoners as persons sentenced to imprisonment for political, national or religious reasons.
The basic features of the draft are as follows:
- 1. Separation of political prisoners from other categories of prisoner. A prisoner should be held in the territory of the republic where he allegedly committed the crime he is charged with.
- 2. Abolition of forced labour. Creation of normal working conditions for prisoners who wish to work.
- 3. Prisoners should not be subjected to punishment through hunger, cold, damp, deprivation of a bed or of clothes (i.e., by being put in the cooler, Chronicle).
- 4. The right to an unrestricted number of visits.
- 5. The right to hold religious services, to make use of religious literature, to unite in groups with others of the same denomination.
- 6. The right to do creative work.
- 7. The right to a conscientious medical service, independent of the penal administration.
- 8. The right to an unrestricted amount of correspondence.
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The journalists were also given a collective declaration signed by Tatyana Velikanova, Yury Orlov, Grigory Podyapolsky, Tatyana Khodorovich, Vladimir Borisov, Andrei Sakharov, Galina Salova and Alexander Lavut.
(Later the following added their support to the declaration: Larissa Bogoraz, Ludmila Alexeyeva, N. Ivanov, Vyacheslav Rodionov, Nina Lisovskaya, Nina Bukovskaya, Leonard Ternovsky, Ye. Kostyorina and Zinaida Grigorenko.)
The declaration emphasises that the basic features of the statute on political prisoners include requirements which are applicable to all prisoners.
An Article in the Basic Law on Corrective Labour and in the Corrective-Labour Code states that “Punishment does not have the aim of inflicting suffering or humiliation”. It is not observed in practice. The entire functioning of the corrective-labour system contradicts the named Article.
The authors of the declaration also demand that:
- prisoners should be given the opportunity to consult lawyers,
- genuine public supervision by society should be established over conditions of imprisonment in penal institutions.
Discussing the situation of political prisoners as such, the authors refer to the extremely severe conditions in which they are held.
The difficulty of obtaining qualified legal aid is especially acute for political prisoners. Obstacles are put in the way of lawyers who agree to take political cases.
For a political prisoner, ‘to reform’ means to renounce his or her beliefs. Ideological pressure from the authorities to do so is backed up by material and physical persuasion techniques — the cooler or deprivation of parcels. Even medical care is often made to depend on the ‘strategic considerations’ of the authorities.
The political prisoner finds himself in a difficult situation even after his release: his choice of a place to live is restricted; he has difficulty obtaining work and a residence permit. Almost every prisoner released is put under administrative surveillance.
The authors of the declaration point out that, from the viewpoint of generally accepted legal standards, Soviet prisoners of conscience have not committed any crimes. The declaration’s authors demand a review of all cases and the release of all prisoners sentenced for political reasons. They call for the release of those now under investigation for such reasons, in particular Sergei Kovalyov, Andrei Tverdokhlebov, Vyacheslav Igrunov and Mustafa Dzhemilev.
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An essay by Malva Landa, “30 October is Political Prisoners’ Day in the USSR” was attached to the declaration. The essay is rich in factual material, most of which is known to the readers of the Chronicle.
Two declarations by Sakharov were also linked to 30 October.
[1] The first concerns the situation of former political prisoners. Sakharov writes in particular about Anatoly Ponomaryov, who was again put in a psychiatric hospital on 20 October, and Sergei Babich, who, although he was released a year ago (CCE 32.12), still cannot find a job to support himself.
[2] The second declaration is about the imprisonment of Maria Florescul for bringing up her nephew in a religious manner (CCE 38.17).
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PERM
2. Diary of Camp 35
(April-September 1975)
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April-May
Copies of complaints and declarations addressed to various authorities on various subjects were confiscated from a group of prisoners.
Lieutenant Rogozov, head of the special section (i.e., KGB), explained to Antonyuk that this was done “so that these declarations won’t get abroad”.
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MAY
Procurator Goldyrev of Chusovoi district pointed out to the camp authorities the illegality of taking money from the accounts of prisoners to pay for their food (money for the maintenance of prisoners should be deducted only from the wages they earn in camp, Chronicle).
The money was returned.
23.
The prisoner Smirnov refused a three-day visit. His reason: he did not wish to subject his sister to the humiliation of a body-search.
25.
Vyacheslav Petrov (CCE 29) was transferred here from Camp 36.
26.
The long-standing dispute between the camp administration and Anatoly Altman — Altman (CCE 17.6) has been trying to observe the practices of the Jewish religion while in the camp and wore a beard — ended with Altman being handcuffed and shaved forcibly.
Lieutenant Nikolayev, who supervised the shaving, drew up a report about his “resistance to authority”.
Lychak [1] got seven days in the cooler. The reason? He had “books lying on his cupboard”. (They should have been inside it.)
28.
Altman was deprived of a routine visit on the basis of the report made by Nikolayev.
29.
Altman declared a hunger strike. The situation became very tense: about 20 prisoners were willing to support Altman’s hunger strike. Moshnyan also declared a hunger strike, as he too had been deprived of a visit.
30.
The camp commandant, Major Pimenov, talked to Altman, admitted the falsity of Nikolayev’s report and deprived him of facilities at the camp store instead of depriving him of the visit.
Altman ended his hunger strike.
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JUNE
1. Sunday
Declared a working day, “because of the needs of production”.
3.
Lieutenant Nikolayev forbade I. Valdman to go out to work, for “infringing the regulations on dress” (he was carrying his jacket over his arm). At the same time, he immediately drew up a report charging Valdman with ‘not going out to work’.
4.
Nikolayev reported Mykola Gorbal, Ivan Kalynets, Igor Ogurtsov and Arie Khnokh for “drinking tea in working hours”.
7.
Because of Nikolayev’s report Kalynets was deprived of a visit (for the third time in the last eight months). Khnokh was deprived of access to the store.
For “being late for roll-call” Igor Ogurtsov was deprived of a parcel and barred from the store.
8.
An ‘inventory’ was carried out in the camp zone, i.e. a search of the prisoners’ personal effects, which are kept in a depository. The prisoners themselves had to bring their belongings for inspection. Pidgorodetsky and Smirnov refused to participate in this search of their own things. They were put in the cooler.
Dmitry Basarab (serving his 23rd year of imprisonment; an invalid of the second category who has twice suffered heart attacks) said that he could not lift heavy objects and asked to have his belongings inspected at the depository. He was deprived of access to the store, of a parcel and of a visit.
Petrov refused to carry his books out of the warehouse, as they were not subject to inventory. He was deprived of a parcel and of access to the store.
Following the ‘inventory’ some people had their books confiscated, others were deprived of their slippers. The operation was supervised by Captain Polyakov, deputy commandant for prisoners’ regime.
On the same day Gorbal was deprived of access to the store — for “drinking tea” (see 4 June).
9.
6 am. “A protest hunger strike” was declared by 14 political prisoners: Antonyuk, Valdman, Gluzman, Gorbal, Demidov, Zograbyan, Kalynets, Petrov, Prishlyak, Pronyuk, Svetlichny, Soroka, Khnokh and Shakhverdyan.
11 am. A discussion with Pimenov took place. As a result, Petrov was thrown in the cooler for 5 days “for insulting Captain Polyakov”. Protests were sent to the CPSU Central Committee.
2 pm. On Pimenov’s orders Petrov was let out of the cooler. Pidgorodetsky had his 10 days in the cooler cut to 3 days.
Evening: The books confiscated the day before were returned to the prisoners. In the cooler Pidgorodetsky was given his jacket and a hot water bottle (this was unprecedented),
10.
In the morning the camp authorities summoned Kalynets and Basarab. They were given to understand that their punishments would be commuted if they requested it. Both men refused.
5 pm. Kalynets was deprived of access to the store instead of being deprived of a visit.
6 pm. The hunger strike was suspended “because the illegalities have been partially remedied”. Only Svetlichny continued his hunger strike: the day before he had been deprived of a parcel and of access to the store for refusing to write production indicators on the notice board (usually this work was done by ‘activists’).
11.
Stepan Soroka was deprived of a parcel and of access to the store (like Basarab, during the ‘inventory’ on 8 June he had asked to have his belongings inspected at the depository).
20.
Petrov declared a hunger strike after being ordered to fulfil the work norm on a lathe: he had never taken a course of instruction in its use and did not have the necessary qualifications.
23.
The camp was visited by a commission of observers from the Regional Soviet executive committee.
The commission summoned Antonyuk, Gorbal, Pronyuk and Khnokh and gave them the following choice: either they would take part in the labour colony’s collective soviet, or they would be sent to Vladimir Prison. The members of the commission refused to give their names.
24.
Antonyuk suffered a severe attack of pain in his kidneys. He received no medical assistance and was made to go out to work.
25.
Petrov was told his request would be granted. He ended his hunger strike.
Major Yarunin of the MVD medical service, the head of the camp medical section, admitted that Antonyuk had suffered a kidney attack and prescribed some medicine for him, but refused to release him from work.
Antonyuk went out to work, although he was seriously ill.
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JULY
“I listen regularly to radio broadcasts of extracts from the Chronicle. The facts given are accurate.” (Rogozov, head of the special section at camp 35, speaking to Gabriel Superfin.)
3.
The camp was visited by a delegation of public figures from Kiev: it consisted of Kakovsky, D.Sc. (History);, Goloveshko, deputy head of the Kiev Region Soviet’s department of justice; and Mordyuk, a worker at the Gorky factory.
Everyone was forced to attend the ‘meeting’ in the hall; officer Kuznetsov announced that anyone who refused would be deprived of access to the store.
Major Kotov said to prisoner Gluzman (in front of the members of the delegation):
“I shall order all the Jews to take off their six-pointed stars. Only one religion is allowed in our country, the Orthodox one; only crosses may be worn.”
Gluzman asked, “Well, what about Moslems, for instance?”
“Only crosses may be worn,” said Kotov.
Lieutenant Rogozov, head of the special section, drew up a report on Pidgorodetsky: “At evening roll-call he insulted the public figures from Kiev.” Pronyuk was put in the punishment barracks. On the same day or later Gorbal was also sent there.
4.
Three KGB men (one was the notorious Ruban from the Kiev KGB, CCE 30.8); another was Captain Utyro, KGB representative in Camp 35) had a talk with Pidgorodetsky about his views.
5.
Pidgorodetsky was put in the cooler for seven days, on the basis of Rogozov’s report.
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AUGUST
1.
“I’d shoot the lot of you if I had my way,” (Ensign Gubarev’s words to prisoner Valery Marchenko).
2.
Antonyuk suffered another attack of pain in his kidneys.
8.
Valdman sent a declaration to Brezhnev and Kosygin, announcing that his status was now that of a political prisoner.
17.
Valdman demanded that his declaration, which was being held back by the camp administration, be sent off.
That evening Valdman had a heart attack.
18.
Morning: Valdman was examined by Dr Yarunin. His diagnosis: spasms of the coronary blood-vessels, general exhaustion, nervous exhaustion. A course of treatment was prescribed.
Afternoon: On the orders of Pimenov, Valdman was sent to the cooler for 15 days.
26.
The prisoner Skobas died.
Shortly before his death he went to the doctor but did not get into the hospital because there were “no free beds”. He had been engaged in hard physical labour.
28.
After a three-day visit from his mother, Shakhverdyan was subjected to a body search in which medical means were used. The probing of his anus was personally carried out by Major Yarunin, head of the medical section.
There is reason to think that Shakhverdyan’s mother was subjected to a similar search.
Some prisoners announced a boycott of Yarunin as a doctor.
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SEPTEMBER
1.
Kalynets declared a warning hunger strike. The reason for it was the confiscation of letters from his relatives, including one from his small daughter.
At the same time Petrov declared a hunger strike: he was asking to be hospitalized (Petrov has a stomach ulcer and pains in his heart).
4.
Without receiving permission, Altman declared himself a political prisoner.
5.
Altman was deprived of a parcel and access to the store.
6.
Altman was deprived of a visit.
8.
Petrov was promised a place in hospital and ended his hunger strike.
Altman was sent to the cooler for ten days.
Valdman declared himself a political prisoner.
9.
Petrov was transferred to the hospital.
10.
Kalynets ended his hunger strike no later than this day.
12.
Petrov was discharged from hospital.
The same day he was shut up in the punishment barracks until the end of his sentence (i.e., until February 1976), for “systematically infringing the rules of detention”. Petrov declared a hunger strike, to last as long as he was kept in the punishment barracks.
14.
Valdman was thrown in the cooler for ten days.
18.
Morning: Altman came back into the camp after ten days in the cooler.
Evening: Altman was sent back to the cooler, for 15 days.
16-20.
Mass protests by prisoners in Camp 35. Letters were sent to the Central Committee and Podgorny about the illegalities and tyranny in the camp.
The authors of many declarations warned that, if their protests were passed in the usual way for investigation by lower officials, i.e., to those who were the subject of the prisoners’ complaints, then they would have to renounce their Soviet citizenship and appeal for help to international organizations.
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GLUZMAN
Semyon Gluzman is being threatened with a new sentence.
On 12 September he was summoned by KGB representative Utyro. The latter told Gluzman that a new case was being prepared against him under Article 70, pt. 2.
Gluzman is charged with:
1. getting information out of the camp about the hunger strike in summer 1974 (CCE 33.5-2);
2. gathering information about the events in camp 35 (during a search, sheets of paper bearing some sort of notes were discovered on Gluzman);
3. writing an article on Petro Grigorenko (evidently this is a reference to “An in absentia psychiatric report on the case of P. Grigorenko”, which Gluzman helped to write);
4. A Manual on Psychiatry for Dissenters [2] by Gluzman and Bukovsky (CCE 35.12 [1]), which appeared in samizdat and was published in the West: in the second half of 1974 the camp administration obtained a copy of this text.
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NOTES
- On Lychak, and those listed here, see “Prisoners in Perm Camp 35” (CCE 33.6-2): Waldman, Gorbal, Kalynets, Ogurtsov, Khnokh, Pidgodoretsky, Smirnov, Basarab, Antonyuk, Gluzman, Demidov, Prishlyak, Pronyuk, Svetlichny, Soroka, and Shakhverdyan.
↩︎ - The Manual forms appendix six in Bloch & Reddaway, Russia’s Political Hospitals (1977; pbk, pp. 419-440). Vladimir Bukovsky wrote a Foreword to the work entitled “Punitive psychiatry“.
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