On 21 August in Moscow City Court the trial took place of Ilya Glezer, charged with “‘the manufacture and dissemination of libellous letters and documents designed to undermine the Soviet State system” (see CCE 24.10 [and CCE 25.10, item 18]). The judge was Bogdanov, the Procurator Funtov and the court-appointed defence lawyer was Rausov (see CCE 22.8, item 12).
The sentence was three years deprivation of freedom and three years exile. I. T. Glezer is a Master of Biological Sciences and the author of two books. On 23 August 1972 the paper Moskovskaya Pravda published an article about Glezer entitled “Poison in an Envelope” [note 1]. The article is signed by Yu. Babushkin, a pseudonym of Yury Vasilyevich Dmitriev, head of a department on the paper Trud [Toil].
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On 12 September 1972, after serving a 10-year term of imprisonment Anatoly Vladimirovich RADYGIN [see CCE 4.4, CCE 11.3, and CCEs 24 and 25, above], a Jew on his mother’s side but a Russian according to his passport, was discharged from Vladimir Prison.
Anatoly Radygin, 1934-1984
From his own words (see Marchenko’s My Testimony [chapter “Friends and Comrades”]) it is known that he graduated from the Leningrad Higher Nautical College and became an officer, but somehow “left the forces”. Radygin sailed in the Far East as captain of a fishing-boat. In 1962 he published an anthology of poetry in Leningrad entitled The Salt of the Ocean [note 2] directed a literary association at a factory and was a member of a group committee attached to the Leningrad branch of the Writers Union. He was arrested on 8 September 1962 during an attempt to cross to Turkey by sea. He was convicted of “intent to betray the Motherland” (Article 64 of the Russian Criminal Code) and also of anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.
He served his sentence initially in Dubrovlag (Mordovian) Camp 7; in the autumn of 1965 together with Krivtsov and Niklus [note 3] he was put in the punishment barrack [BUR “intensified regime” barrack] for six months; then he found himself in Camp 11. In the summer of 1969, together with I. Terelli [? J. Terelya] and R. Semenyuk he was sent off again, this time to Vladimir Prison, on suspicion of organizing an escape tunnel. In the autumn of 1971 Radygin decided that he would leave for Israel after his release and tried to have his papers altered to contain the surname (Shulman) and nationality of his mother. The prison administration refused his application, and he went on a three-week hunger strike — to no avail. After release he was sent to live in Tarusa [Kaluga Region] under surveillance. He still intended to leave the USSR.
The journal Herald of the Russian Student Christian Movement (Paris-New York, 1971, No. 101-102), published “A Garland of Sonnets”, written by Radygin in Vladimir Prison .
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2 August 1972 the chemist Lev Kvachevsky was released. He had been serving a sentence of four years under Article 70 of the Russian Criminal Code (see CCEs. 2. 3. [5, 8-11], 14, [18, 22]). Since May 1970 he had been in Vladimir Prison. He has been sent to Luga [near Leningrad].
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In July 1972 Stepan Zatikyan, a worker sentenced to four years for “anti-Soviet propaganda” (see CCEs 15, [18, 23], 25), was released from Vladimir Prison, where he had been since July 1970. [note 4]
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Valery Vudka (Article 70 of the Russian Criminal Code, three years, see CCEs 12, 14, 22) has been released from Vladimir Prison.
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Valentina Mashkova, Article 70, six years (see CCE 15), has been released from the Mordovian camps.
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On 5 August Gilel Shur (see CCEs 15. [20], 24) was released from a camp. [note 5]
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On 12 August Boris Shilkrot (see CCEs 14, [supplement to] CCE 17 & 22) was released from Vladimir Prison. He has been sent to Luga.
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In August residents of Kishinyov A. Voloshin and I. Trakhtenberg were released from confinement [note 6]. They were sentenced over a year ago to a two-year term in the case of the “nine Jews” charged with “stirring up emigrational attitudes, stealing an Era copying machine, and also intending together with the Leningraders (see CCE 17.6) to participate in the hi-jacking of an aircraft”. Other defendants at the same trial were: D. Chernoglaz (five years), A. Goldfeld (four years), G. Shur (two years), all Leningraders; A. Galperin (2 ½ years), S. Levit (two years), Kh. Kizhner (two years) and D. Rabinovich (one year).
Approximately one month after their release from the camps Voloshin and Trakhtenberg received permission to leave for Israel.
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On 14 June Islam Karimov, deputy chairman of the Society for the Defence of the National Rights of the Meskhetian Turks (see CCEs 21, 22), [note 7] was released from a camp (Kaluga Region, Lyudinovo, [penal] institution 55/6). I. Karimov was sentenced in January 1972 to eight months under Article 198 (infringement of the identity-card [“passport”] regulations).
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In August A. Rybakov (see CCE 25) was in the Serbsky Institute in Moscow. He has been pronounced of unsound mind (diagnosis: schizophrenia).
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The investigation into the case of Kronid Arkadyevich LYUBARSKY (see CCE 24) has been completed: the investigator is Kislykh. The trial is to take place on 26 October in Noginsk, Moscow Region [see CCE 28.4].
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On 26 August 1972, the priest Juozas Zdebskis (see CCE 21.9; CCE 22.8, item 6; CCE 23.8, item 1; and CCE 24.6) was freed from confinement.
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V. Dremlyuga, serving a sentence in Yakutia (see CCEs 17, 20, [21,] 22), was in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison from June until the beginning of September.
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The beginning of October 1972 saw the release, after 25 years of prison and camps, of Kateryna Mironovna ZARYTSKA (see CCE 15) who until 1947 was the organizer of the Ukrainian Red Cross, a contributor to the paper Idea and Action, and a messenger for the OUN [Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists].
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In May 1972, a domestic quarrel between two neighbours in a workers’ district of Dnepropetrovsk, Plastik, a Jew, and Maslov, a Ukrainian, led to large-scale riots of an anti-Semitic nature which continued for several days.
During the fight between Maslov, who was drunk, and Plastik, Maslov’s mother called the police; three policemen pushed Maslov into his own room, where he threw himself out of a second-floor window. The shouts of his mother attracted a crowd. The police took away Plastik’s family to save them from reprisals. In the old town cemetery, many tombstones on Jewish graves were destroyed. Only three days later were the disturbances brought to a halt. Party meetings were held in the town’s industrial enterprises, at which it was explained that the Jew had not thrown his neighbour out of the window. At a meeting of the party activists of the town. Regional Party Secretary [A. F.] Vatchenko laid the blame for events in the town on “foreign agents and Zionists” (see CCE 26 [but not the text received in the west]).
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In September and October V. Moroz (see CCEs 17, 18) was in Kiev under interrogation in connexion with the case of Ivan Dzyuba (see CCEs 24, 25), after which he was sent to Lvov for questioning in connexion with the case of Chornovil (see CCEs 24, 26).
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MOSCOW. At the end of September 1972, the Orthodox priests Father Vsevolod Shpiller, incumbent of the Nikola Church on Novokuznetskaya Street, and Father Dmitry Dudko, a priest of the Church of Saint Nikolai of the Transfiguration, were “sent into retirement”, i.e., dismissed.
The KGB had long been bringing pressure to bear on the warden of the church where D. Dudko officiated, insisting on Dudko’s dismissal. The warden refused to concur and was himself dismissed. The new warden promptly informed Dudko that he had been instructed to cancel his contract with him. He laid the blame on Father Dmitry’s “political utterances”. On 1 October the priest Dudko preached a sermon to his parishioners, asking them to help and defend him.
On 4 October a group of believers appealed to the Patriarch of All Russia, Pimen, in a letter protesting at the priest’s dismissal. Father Vsevolod too was retired for political reasons. Both priests are well known for their pastoral activities amongst young believers. [note 8]
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At the beginning of October Danylo Shumuk (see CCE Nos, 24-26) arrived at his camp: Potma Mordovian ASSR, post-box 385/1, 6th brigade.
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The London publishing house of Macmillan has issued the first part of the autobiography of P.I. Yakir, Childhood in Prison. Its length is about 150 pages, and it deals with his first years of confinement in Soviet prisons and camps. The book vindicates a description of the author by V. Lapin [see above]: “Right from his childhood this man, despite his convict’s fate, has retained an enthusiastic capacity to rejoice in things joyous.”
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A prominent detail connected with the forcible expulsion from Kiev of Zhores Medvedev, during the International Congress of Gerontologists there (see CCE 26) was an attempt by foreign scientists to express solidarity with their colleague who was being persecuted by the authorities. [note 9]
This has become known from notes by Zh. Medvedev entitled, “The Problem of Ageing and the Problem of Democracy (Letters to a Friend)”, which have appeared in samizdat. About 500 participants in the Congress were ready to register their protests and boycott its sessions. On their behalf Professor L. Hayflick had a meeting with the Chairman of the Soviet organizing committee, Professor D. F. Chebotaryov, who assured him that he knew nothing about the incident and promised to use his influence to prevent any possible persecution of Medvedev. Anxious for the fate of his colleague and hoping to help him, Hayflick was satisfied with the assurances he had received and promised to refrain from making any public protests. It is clear, however, from Medvedev’s notes that the authorities’ actions were taken in complicity with Professor Chebotaryov.
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Last summer KGB officials took test-samples of the typefaces of all typewriters in the Leningrad branch of the publishing-house Politizdat and its subsidiary editorial offices.
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The Chronicle is reproducing the full text of a document which, in a legally vague form, virtually sanctions the tapping of telephone conversations: [note 10]
Order the Minister of Communications of the USSR, No. 593.
Moscow
7 September 1972
Concerning an Addendum to Article 74 of the Communications Statutes of the USSR.
The Council of Ministers of the USSR, by a Decree issued 31 August 1972. No. 655, has added to this Article of the Communications Statutes of the USSR, which were ratified by Decree No. 316 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued on 27 May 1972 (SP SSSR 1971, 110, [note 9] Article 83), after the first paragraph, a paragraph as follows:
“The use of the telephone communication system (inter-urban, municipal or rural) for purposes contrary to the interests of the State or to public order is prohibited.
I order:
the heads of all chief administrations, departments and Offices of the Ministry of Communications of the USSR, Ministers of Communications of the Union Republics,
heads of industrial and technical departments of communications, managers of enterprises, establishments and organizations in the field of Communications under Union jurisdiction:
a) to take cognizance of and comply with Decree No. 655 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, 31 August 1972;
b) to ensure the insertion of the above-mentioned Addendum into Article 74 of the Communications Statutes of the USSR, which have been circulated to regional organizations by order No. 420 of the Ministry of Communications of the USSR, 8 June 1971.
Minister of Communications of the USSR N. Psurtsev
(11,230 copies)
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The Chronicle continues to publish the addresses of families, and the birthdays of children of political prisoners.
Nadezhda Pavlovna KIRSANOVA — Sverdlovsk P-116, 3 Komarova St., flat 8. Daughter Ira, b. 26 July 1962.
Galina Ilynichna SALOVA (Lyubarskaya) – Moscow Region, Noginsk district, Chernogolovka, 26 Pervaya St., flat 35. Daughter Veronica, b. 3 October 1960.
Inna Ivanovna YURAVLYOVA (Dronova) – Moscow, 7 Dokukina St., flat 40. Son Dima, b. 26 July 1969.
Galina Vasilyevna GAVRILOVA — Tallinn 28, 208 Soprusc Puiestee St., flat 163. Daughter Lyuba, b. 9 October 1968.
Vilena Anatolyevna PIMENOVA – [Komi ASSR], Syktyvkar, Krasny Zalon, 19 Kuznechnaya St. Son Revolt, b. 20 August 1964.
[These are, respectively, the wives, homes, and children of Anatoly Reshetnik (CCE 25), Kronid Lyubarsky (24-27), Alexander Dronov (23, 25), Gennady Gavrilov (CCE 10, 11, 15, 22, 23, 26), and Revolt Pimenov (16-18, 22, 23-25).]
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NOTES
[1] Judge V.V. Bogdanov presided over several other political trials before that of Ilya Glezer. Between July 1970 and November 1971, he heard the cases of Natalya Gorbanevskaya and Olga Joffe (CCE 15); of Makarenko, Revolt Pimenov and Boris Vail (CCE16); of Anatoly Levitin-Krasnov (CCE 20.7); of Mikheyev and de Perregaux (CCE 21.2); and of Nadezhda Yemelkina (CCE 23.2). And he would continue to do so for a number of years — a “special” judge for “special” cases, like his colleague Judge Lubentsova.
On procurator Funtov see CCE 22.//.. Defence attorney Rausov was the barrister who asked a court to sentence his client Roman Fin to internment in a prison-hospital (see CCE 22.8, item 12).
For a reply to “Poison in an Envelope” by 16 Moscow Jews dated 7 September 1972, and also for more details on the trial, see NBSJ (No. 1, 1972) and Reuter and UPI reports dated 9 September. The article evokes the most sombre associations, write the authors, and serious concern by its extreme language and crude Stalinist anti-Semitism.
Radygin emigrated to Israel in summer 1973 and ultimately settled in the USA.
[2] On Radygin’s companions Krivtsov, see CCE 11. , on Niklus see CCEs 13 and 15, and on both see Marchenko’s book, My Testimony.
[3] Seven years later, Zatikyan was one of those arrested and prosecuted for causing the explosion on the Moscow Metro, see CCE 52.1.
[4] CCE 24 mistakenly suggests that Shur’s 1971 letter had not been published. Brief extracts appeared in NBSJ No. 204, 1971, and the full Russian text was in the journal Sion (Tel-Aviv, No. 1, 1972)
On the brutal circumstance of Shur’s release see an appeal of six Jewish prisoners to the UN (text in NBSJ, III, 2), and on his harassment after release by the KGB (NBSJ, II, 289).
In November 1972 he successfully left the USSR after paying 7,000 roubles in education tax, and in December he was one of the seven Israeli Jews to appeal “to all people of good will” to intensify their efforts on behalf of Jewish political prisoners in the USSR.
[5] Just before their arrest, Voloshin and Trakhtenberg were two of the six signatories to the appeal to the UN described in [[note 82.)
[6] These issues describe Meskhetian affairs and the fate of their leader E. Odabashev. CCE 19 records an earlier arrest of Karimov. A rare discussion in the Soviet press of the Meskhetians, there described just as “Turks”, appeared recently in Izvestiya AN Kazakh SSR (Alma-Ata, 1972, No. 5). An article by F. Fazoglu on “Special Features of the Speech of the Turkish Population in Kazakhstan” states that there are 79,000 Turks in the USSR (CCE 7’s figure of 200,000 is probably nearer the mark) and that 92.3% of them consider Turkish their mother tongue: their speech shows the influence of a lengthy period of Turkish-Georgian bilingualism in the past.
[7] This report appears, in the light of subsequent information, to be exaggerated. In late 1972 Shpiller and Dudko were reported still to be at their posts, despite pressure. For Shpiller see Chapter 8 in M. Bourdeaux, Patriarch and Prophets, London, 1969; Dudko was briefly arrested on 24 February 1966, for intending, with Grigorenko and others, to make an anti-Stalin demonstration (Possev 16, September 1966). See also the collection of Shpiller’s sermons in Vestnik RSKhD (No. 104-105, 1972).
[8] At the beginning of September 1972, Medvedev circulated in samizdat an Open Letter to the Soviet Finance Minister, in which he suggested that would-be emigrants be allowed to pay the new education tax with the unredeemed State bonds which citizens bought compulsorily between 1928 and 1957.
On 15 January 1973, Medvedev arrived in Britain to research for a year at London’s National Institute for Medical Research.
[9] See Collection of Resolutions of the Government of the USSR (1971), p. 110.
A Chronicle of Current Events 