On 29 June N.I. Bukovskaya submitted a protest to R. A. Rudenko, USSR Procurator-General, against the violation of the right to a defence in the case of her son Vladimir Bukovsky (arrest, CCE 19.1).
She was protesting about the unexplained refusal of the Moscow City Procurator to admit a defence counsel to the case at the stage of pre-trial investigation. According to the 1 August 1970 Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, defence counsel may be admitted at this stage if the case is especially complex (the Procurator’s approval is needed for this).
The especial complexity of Bukovsky’s case is indicated by the extension twice during the period of the investigation of the term of pre-trial detention in custody. “The Procurator is entitled not to give permission,” writes N.I. Bukovskaya, “but he must, I presume, give his reasons, in accordance with the general principles of administrative law”.
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On 3 August officials of the Moscow Regional KGB carried out searches at the homes of Irina Belogorodskaya (at two flats, where she lives and where she is registered), Ludmila Alexeyeva, Yelena Stroyeva and Vladimir Gusarov (in his absence, his former wife was invited to be present at the search). During the searches note-books, personal correspondence and tape-recordings of songs were confiscated. The searches were carried out in connection with Cases No. 365 and 350. (It is known that Case No. 350 is that of V. Kozharinov, CCE 19.11, item 4.)
After the searches all the persons involved were taken away for questioning. The husbands of Belogorodskaya and Alexeyeva were also questioned, as was a friend of Alexeyeva who was in her flat at the time of the search. The investigators refused to explain what Case 365 was about. It may be supposed that this is the case of Bukovsky. Questioning was conducted by Moscow KGB investigators Bardin and V. I. Korkach.
At the end of August or the beginning of September Vladimir Bukovsky was sent to the Serbsky Institute for an in-patient, forensic-psychiatric examination [1].
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NOTES
- See the texts of two appeals for Bukovsky not be ruled insane against all the evidence in Possev No 10, 1971. Extracts from his mother’s appeal appeared in UPI and AP dispatches of 3 October, and extracts from the other, signed by 47 of his friends, in The Times, 6 October 1971.
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