On 5 February Mykola Rudenko and his wife were detained on a Kiev street and taken home for a search, which was conducted by the deputy Procurator of the Donetsk Region, Yu.Ya. Noskov. On the warrant were the authorization of the Ukrainian Procuracy and the signature of the deputy Procurator of Kiev, Zamayev.
In the search the literary works of Rudenko, his documents, orders and medals were confiscated. His wife Raisa Rudenko was subjected to a search of her person.
During the search O. Berdnik came to see Rudenko. He was also searched after being stripped naked.
After the search Rudenko was taken away ‘for a chat at the Kiev Procuracy for a couple of hours’, without any warrant for his arrest being shown. Not until three days later was Raisa Rudenko telephoned by the Procuracy and told that her husband had been arrested and was in investigation prison no. 1 for the Donetsk Region. They refused to say on what grounds. Raisa Rudenko began enquiring at the Ukrainian republican and Donetsk regional Procuracies. Fifteen days later she was informed from Donetsk that she could receive an answer in Kiev, but there too she received no answer.
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Nikolai [Russian form of Mykola] Danilovich Rudenko was born in 1920. He took part in the Great Patriotic War, was a political instructor, and defended Leningrad. He was awarded orders and medals.
Until 1972 he was a member of the Union of Writers. More than 20 books of his have been published in the USSR (verse, fiction, socio-political works).
He was expelled from the party for repeated protests sent to party and government organs.
Rudenko is a member of the Soviet group of Amnesty International. He is the leader of the Ukrainian “Group to Assist the Implementation of the Helsinki Agreements” [i.e., the Ukrainian Helsinki Group].
At the front Mykola Rudenko was seriously wounded and his spine was damaged. He needs constant medical care.
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On 5 February, another member of the Ukrainian Helsinki group, Alexei Tikhy, was arrested in the Donetsk Region. There are grounds for believing that a single case has been brought against Tikhy and Rudenko.
Alexei Ivanovich Tikhy was born in 1927. He is a teacher.
In 1957 he was sentenced to 7 years under Article 54-10 of the [Stalin-period] Ukrainian Criminal Code. He served his time in Dubrovlag [Mordovia]. He was released in 1964 at the end of his sentence.
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