FIRST TRIAL
On 29 December 1976, the Chernigov Regional Court sentenced Pyotr Vasilyevich RUBAN on charges of “theft” and “private-enterprise activity” (Articles 81, pt. 3, and 150, UkSSR Criminal Code) to eight years in special-regime camps and five years’ exile (CCE 44.27 [1], statement by Ukrainian Helsinki Group).
The case against Ruban, according to information in CCE 44.27, was instigated soon after an item was stolen from his studio at home: an inlaid wooden book he had made as a gift to the American People on the 200th anniversary of the USA.
Ruban appealed to the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR. The Supreme Court set aside the sentence and sent the case for a fresh investigation.
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RETRIAL
This time Ruban was charged not only under the two former Articles but also under Article 187-1 (UkSSR Criminal Code = Article 190-1, RSFSR Code).
The basis for a charge under Article 187-1 was Ruban’s camp diary (he came out of the Mordovian camps in 1973) and his critical pronouncements on some sort of ware which had been given the mark of good quality.
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The trial went on for seven days.
About forty witnesses appeared, many of whom refuted the prosecution’s version of events, especially the theft of materials from the furniture combine in Priluky, the city where Ruban worked. In the speech for the prosecution, however, the Procurator said that Ruban had such a big briefcase he was able to carry many material valuables away in it.
The defence lawyer declared that his defendant was not guilty and demanded his acquittal. Ruban himself also pleaded not guilty. He said at the trial:
“I am being tried for wanting the Ukraine to leave the Soviet Union and because I have not changed my views after serving a five-year sentence for this [conviction].”
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This time the court sentenced Ruban to six years’ imprisonment and three years in exile.
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