The Chronicle opens a new section, “Biographies”, with a biography of A. A. Tarasov.
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Adrian Alexandrovich TARASOV was born in 1945 [note 1].
He lost his father in early childhood. While attending a special school for French studies he began to correspond with pen-pals in France. His French correspondents invited him to make a tourist trip to France (through Intourist they sent the invitation, tickets and money for expenses).
Later he met French tourists and Frenchmen who had come to attend a festival. On 25 December 1963 he was arrested on a charge of treason.
In March and April 1964, he was given a psychiatric examination in the Serbsky Institute. The conclusion: psychopathy, but mentally responsible for the purposes of criminal proceedings.
Between 7 and 17 September 1964 he was tried by a military tribunal of the MVD under Article 64, paragraph “a”, of the RSFSR Criminal Code.
He was sentenced to 8 years in strict-regime camps. (This sentence was less than the minimum under this Article – 10 years – as he was an adolescent when he committed the acts for which he was incriminated; also, the sentence referred to his difficult childhood and psychopathy.)
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Tarasov appealed against the tribunal’s decision to the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court.
In October 1964 he was again examined at the Serbsky Institute. The conclusion was the same as before. In January 1965 the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court set aside the MVD tribunal’s decision and sent the case back for further investigation.
In spring 1965 he was examined again at the Serbsky Institute. The conclusion: the same as before.
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The new trial was held on 7-29 September 1965. The charge under Article 64 was withdrawn. Tarasov was sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment under Article 70 of the RSFSR criminal code. But he pleaded not guilty and filed a new appeal.
In December 1965 he was examined for the fourth time at the Serbsky Institute. The conclusion was the same as before.
In January 1966 his sentence was approved by Military Collegium of the Supreme Court.
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In December 1966 Tarasov was released on completion of his term. He was sent to live in Riga.
On 12 January 1967 he was arrested in Moscow for violating his residence regulations; he had come to the Soviet capital to visit his mother.
He was again sent to the Serbsky Institute. The conclusion was again the same. He was sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment.
In July 1967 he was released on completion of his term. He does not remember where he was supposed to go to live. On 13 July 1967 he came to Moscow.
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On 19 July 1967, he was detained by the police, but instead of being sent to a detention cell he was taken to the Gannushkin Psychiatric Hospital.
There he was diagnosed as schizophrenic. Since then, he has been in various psychiatric hospitals.
There have been many opportunities to discharge Tarasov. But he can be released only into the care of his relatives (as he has been ruled mentally incompetent), and his mother lives in Moscow, where – as one who has served a sentence and been sent to live elsewhere than in Moscow – he is not permitted to reside.
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NOTE
A similar but longer biography of Tarasov has been written and published by V. Prussakov (see CCEs 1, 12, 14, 25, 26), who emigrated in 1972 and now lives in New York.
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