Case of “Poiski” (Searches), Nov-Dec 1979 (55.2-2)

<<No 55: 31 December 1979>>

ARRESTS, SEARCHES, and INTERROGATIONS

*

The Arrest of Valery Abramkin (4 December 1979)

(For the Chronicle’s first report on the early issues of Poiski see “Samizdat Update”, CCE 51.21 [18])

*

PAVLOVSKY

On 16 November 1979, one of the editors of the journal Poiski, Gleb PAVLOVSKY (CCE 52.4), was taken to a police station for a ‘chat’. It was conducted by two men in civilian clothes who refused to give their names and occupations in view of the “unofficial nature of the meeting”.

Pavlovsky was informed that his work with the journal constituted ‘unlawful activity’; however, he could avoid prosecution if he promised the KGB that he would cease to take part in publishing the journal. They offered to help find him a job suited to his qualifications (Pavlovsky is an historian, but works as a stoker). His anonymous acquaintances then asked him whether he would like to leave the USSR Pavlovsky replied that he had no such intention.

The men said they would give him a week to consider their offers and asked him not to discuss the conversation or do any work on the journal before their next meeting. Pavlovsky refused to promise this.

Another ‘chat’ took place on 3 December. Pavlovsky immediately suggested that the KGB officials make a distinction between the personal requests which they had made of him, which he refused to discuss, and the situation created by the persecution of Poiski, he said that he was prepared to discuss the possibility of registering the journal officially and being given the wherewithal to print it. The officials demanded that Pavlovsky tell them whether he would cease his participation in the journal, or whether he was making a contrary statement ‘on the continuation of his antisocial activities’. Pavlovsky did not answer this question. Eventually, after various threats and promises (of imprisonment, of better living conditions, etc), Pavlovsky was asked to give his assurance that even if he remained formally on the editorial board of Poiski, he would have nothing to do with his publication. Pavlovsky refused.

*

In the middle of November Mikhail YAKOVLEV, a regular contributor to Poiski, was detained in Moscow near the home of Valery Abramkin.

Yakovlev had arrived from Odessa two or three days previously and noticed that he was being followed. He was taken to a police station, where they searched him (and confiscated A. Zinoviev’s book “Notes of a Nightwatchman”) and told him: one, to leave Moscow within 72 hours and to return to Odessa, where he was registered; and, two, to find a job in Odessa and to keep it for at least a year. This was the second time that Yakovlev had been detained in the course of two months (CCE 54.2-1).

*

On 4 December seven searches were conducted in connection with the Poiski case (all the search warrants were signed by Yu. A. Burtsev): they took place at the homes of Valery Abramkin, Victor Sorokin, Gleb Pavlovsky, Yury Grimm, Pyotr Abovin-Yegides, Mikhail Gefter and Angelina Gorgan.

Valery Abramkin (1946-2013)

*

As Valery ABRAMKIN was returning from work in the morning he was put into a car and driven home. A search then took place during which the record of a previous search (CCE 52.4) and personal correspondence were confiscated, as well as editorial materials. Burtsev was in charge of the search and informed his subordinates that they could show their credentials only with his permission. (However, nobody received his permission.)

After the search Abramkin was asked to go for an interrogation. He started to collect some things together. Burtsev told him that this was unnecessary as he would be returning home after the talk. However, Abramkin did not return home. The next day his wife Yekaterina GAIDAMCHUK (CCE 41.13, CCE 45.10) telephoned Burtsev, who told her to contact the police station. There they told her that Abramkin had long ago been taken to Butyrka Prison. When she telephoned Burtsev again, he confirmed that Abramkin had been arrested.

On 10 December Vsevolod Kuvakin (CCE 52.2-2) was interrogated in connection with the Abramkin case. Investigator Knyazev told him that Abramkin had been charged under Article 190-1 (RSFSR Criminal Code). On 11 December the Moscow Helsinki Group protested against Abramkin’s arrest (Document 114, CCE 55.10-2).

*

They came to search Victor SOROKIN’s flat (in Pushkino, Moscow Region) early in the morning.

While Sorokin was dressing the door was broken in and a number of people in civilian clothes burst into his room. They behaved exceptionally rudely, turned the house upside-down and provoked and insulted the occupants: Sorokin said that their actions were ‘fascist’ and ‘Gestapo-like’.

Materials relating to Poiski, manuscripts of research papers (Sorokin is an economist), blank paper, a picture of Solzhenitsyn, personal correspondence and addresses were confiscated. Many books were taken but not entered on the record. Sorokin was not allowed to look through the confiscated articles or to add any notes to the record.

===========================================