[More information about those mentioned here may be found in “The Dissident Movement in Ukraine” on the KHPG website]
TRIALS.
1. The Trial of Petro Rozumny (Dnepropetrovsk Region).
On 21 December 1979, the district people’s court examined the case of Petro ROZUMNY, who lives in Pshenichnoye village (Solonyansky district). He is charged under Article 222, pt. 3 (Ukraine SSR Criminal Code: “‘Illegally carrying, keeping, acquiring … a weapon…”).
Petro P. Rozumny (b. 1926)
During a search, a home-made pocket knife and a hunter’s knife bought in a shop were confiscated from Rozumny. He was on his way back from Bagdarin, where he had been staying with the exiled Yevhen Sverstyuk. The case against Rozumny was not opened immediately, but after his second visit to Sverstyuk. He was arrested on 8 October 1979 (CCE 54.11 c).
The written evidence of policemen Vasyutinsky and Mazonin, who confiscated the knives, and of the shop assistant where the knife was bought, Nikitina – none of them, all inhabitants of Buryatia, were summoned to the trial — figured at the trial as well as the conclusion of forensic experts regarding the stabbing and cutting properties of the knives. For translating the witnesses’ testimony into Ukrainian, at the demand of the defendant, the court ruled that Rozumny be charged 60 roubles.
Rozumny pleaded not guilty. For him both knives were not ‘cold steel’ but everyday objects, like an axe or chopper. He refused a defence attorney, but the court would not accept his refusal and forcibly assigned him a defence lawyer. The defendant objected to Judge Danilchenko, and another chairman was appointed in his place.
Petro Rozumny was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in an ordinary-regime camp. On 15 February 1980, he was escorted to the camp. His address there is: 322530. Zheltye Vody, Dnepropetrovsk Region, penal institution 308/26.
[and see “ROZUMNY Petro Pavlovych“, KHPG website]
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2. The Trial of Mykola Horbal (Kiev)
On 18 and 21 January 1980, the people’s court of Kiev’s Oktyabrsky district, presided over by Judge Sinyavsky, with Procurator Matveyeva prosecuting, heard the case of Mykola HORBAL [Gorbal]. He was charged under Article 190 (Ukraine SSR Criminal Code, “Threat or force in regard to an official or citizen carrying out his public duty” = Article 193 of the RSFSR Code) and Articles 17 and 117 (Ukrainian Code: “Attempted rape”).
No defence counsel took part in the trial: the defence attorney S. Vasyutinskaya, engaged during the pre-trial investigation, did not visit Gorbal, did not render him necessary legal assistance, and, finally, a few days before the trial, refused to take part in it. Gorbal acted as his own defence counsel.
Mykola Horbal (b. 1941)
The ‘case’ of Horbal [Horbal) consisted of the following. In October Horbal met P. Batura, a female acquaintance on the street: previously, they studied foreign languages together at evening classes. Batura asked Horbal to mend the electric wiring in her flat. On 20 October 1979, at Batura’s flat Horbal became acquainted with her female friend L. Naimytenko, deputy chief accountant of Construction Administration No. 47. While Gorbal was mending the wiring, the women laid the table and fetched drinks. Gorbal refused to drink and left.
On the evening of 23 October 1979, Horbal went to see some friends. On the way he met Naimytenko. It turned out they were going in the same direction. When they came out of the Metro Naimytenko asked him to accompany her. They had not even walked 20 yards when two men appeared from somewhere (CCE 54.11 contained an inaccuracy) and set about beating Horbal up. Together with Batura and Naimytenko, these two working men, Letavsky and Ivanov, testified against Horbal at the trial.
During the investigation Horbal refused to answer the questions of Investigator Lyashenko. At the trial he declared that the charge of rape had been fabricated: since he was under constant surveillance by the KGB, it was not difficult to arrange his meeting with Naimytenko and the appearance of ‘witnesses’. The case file contained a document from Perm Camp 35 which said that Horbal, who had been imprisoned there (CCE 33.5 c; CCE 33.6 item 1.5, No. 28 & CCE 33.8 c) had “not embarked on the path of correction”. Horbal was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in a strict-regime camp.
The trial was closed. Approaches to the hall where the proceedings were taking place were guarded by vigilantes [druzhinniki]. Horbal’s sister managed to enter the hall on 18 January 1980, at the end of the first day of the trial. She was told that If she had said straightaway that she had come up from the country, they told her, she would have been admitted earlier. Horbal’s other relatives and friends were allowed into the hall only when the judgment was being read out.
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Before the trial, Horbal was held in Kiev’s Lukyanov Prison. The cells there are filled to overflowing; the prison administration has nicknamed the prisoners ‘Olympians’. On 15 April 1980, after a three-week journey, Nikolai Horbal arrived at the camp. His address there is: Nikolaev Region, Olshanskoe settlement, penal institution IN-36/53.
On 17 April, two KGB officials came up to Alla Marchenko, Horbal’s wife [and mother of Valery MARCHENKO], on the street; one of them was Yu.P. Leshchenko. They tried to blacken Horbal’s name, demanded that Marchenko “face up to public opinion”, and promised to visit her regularly.
[and see “HORBAL, Mykola Andriyovych“, KHPG website]
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3. The Trial of Victor Goncharov (Kirovograd).
On 1 February 1980, the trial of Victor GONCHAROV (CCE 54.11 c), charged under Article 187-1 (Ukraine SSR Criminal Code = Article 190-1, RSFSR Code), took place in Kirovograd, central Ukraine.
In November-December 1979 Goncharov was undergoing psychiatric examination in the hospital at Smela, a city in the Cherkassy Region. He was diagnosed as a ‘schizophrenic’ and recommended for treatment in an ordinary psychiatric hospital. The Procurator disputed the decision of the diagnostic team: he considered Goncharov fit to plead. The court sent Goncharov to the Serbsky Institute [Moscow] for a repeat psychiatric examination.
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4. The Trial of Yaroslav Lesiv.
On 6 February 1980, Yaroslav LESIV, arrested on 15 November 1979 (CCE 55.2 c), was sentenced to two years imprisonment for ‘drugs’.
Yaroslav V. Lesiv, 1943-1991
Yaroslav’s father was present at the trial. Afterwards, he said no one had testified against his son. Yaroslav Lesiv is in a camp in northwest Ukraine at the address: 265452, Rivne Region, Sarny, penal institution OR-318/46-15.
[and see “LESIV, Yaroslav Vasylyovych“, KHPG website]
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ARRESTS
1. The Arrest of Nikolai Krainik (Ivano-Frankovsk Region).
On 29 September 1979, Nikolai Krainik, an inhabitant of Soloukhov village (Dolina district, Ivano-Frankivsk Region), was arrested.
On 9 October books and journals published between 1921 and 1925 and manuscripts were confiscated during a search of his home. In November-December 1979, searches were carried out at the homes of Krainik’s relatives living in the same village. About 200 people have already been interrogated on the case of Krainik. They are asked what books Krainik gave them to read; whether he expressed any opinions against the Soviet authorities; and whether he collected money donations.
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Nikolai Mikhailovich KRAINIK is 45 years old and a teacher of history by training.
In 1971, after being denounced by M. Vintoniv, a student at Chernovtsy University, Krainik was expelled from the Communist Party and deprived of his teaching work: the denunciation alleged that Krainik had given Vintoniv anti-Soviet literature.
Recently Krainik has been working as an assistant to a master craftsman in ///boring.
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2. The Arrest of Anna Mikhailenko (Odessa)
On 20 February 1979, three searches were carried out in Odessa, at the homes of Anna Golumbievskaya (CCE 54), Yelena Danielyan (CCEs 44, 45, 47) and Anna Mikhailenko (CCE 54). Afterwards Mikhailenko was arrested. Investigators Grazhdan (CCE 55) and Ryabenko of the Odessa KGB are in charge of her case. Mikhailenko has been arrested, it is said, ‘for slander’.
Mikhailenko is 46 years old. She has breast cancer which has been operated on, but not localized: before her arrest she had a certificate for hospitalization in a cancer clinic.
On the same day, in connection with the case of Mikhailenko, Oksana Meshko was searched in Kiev. The order was signed Procurator Minsky of the Odessa Region, and the search was conducted by republican KGB officials Pluzhnik and Ryabenko. During the search the following were confiscated: statements by Meshko to official bodies, personal notes, correspondence and notebooks.
Ryabenko conducted himself with deliberate rudeness and banged the table with his fist. Grabbing Meshko by the arm, he squeezed her hand so hard that it immediately began to swell up. The investigators called an official doctor, who certified it as a serious bruise.
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3. The Arrest of Olga Matusevich (Kiev)
On 7 January 1980, Olga MATUSEVICH (CCE 55.) was summoned to the Visa & Registration Department (OVIR) in Kiev. She was advised to take back the documents she had sent to the Supreme Soviet in October 1979 (CCE 54.20), including her graduation diploma and military card. She refused.
On 31 January 1980, the Military Enlistment Office (Voenkomat) fined her 10 roubles for not having a military card; they told her they would keep on fining her until she produced her card. On 12 February 1980, she was again summoned to OVIR and advised to take her documents. Matusevich said that she did not want to live in a country where the KGB used Gestapo methods, and she did not intend to defend such a country. The KGB official who talked with her stated that Matusevich was making wild anti-Soviet statements: she would inform the head of the section, she said.
On 12 March 1980, after a search of her flat, Olga Matusevich was arrested. She was charged under Article 187-1 (Ukraine SSR Criminal Code = Article 190-1 of the RSFSR Code). Internal Affairs Investigator Tkachenko is conducting the case.
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4. The Arrest of Ivan Sokulsky (Dnepropetrovsk)
On 11 April 1980, former political prisoner Ivan SOKULSKY [note 1] was arrested in Dnepropetrovsk, south-eastern Ukraine. He was freed at the beginning of the 1970s after serving a sentence under Article 62 (Ukraine SSR Criminal Code = Article 70 of the RSFSR Code). He has been charged again under the same article.
Ivan H. Sokulsky, 1942-1992
[and see “SOKULSKY, Ivan Hryhoryvych“, KHPG website]
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5. The Arrest of Vitaly Shevchenko (Kiev)
On 14 April 1980, Vitaly Nikolayevich SHEVCHENKO (b. 1932) was summoned to an interrogation at K G B headquarters in Kiev. There he was arrested.
Shevchenko graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Kiev University. He worked in the Soviet Far East (island of Sakhalin) for eight years and then at the RATAU telegraph agency In Kiev. He was forced to leave the agency after being accused of nationalism. Following this he worked in the technical information section at a factory. At the end of March 1980, a search was carried out at his home. Newspapers with notes were confiscated; they looked for his diary but could not find it.
Vitaly N. Shevchenko (b. 1934)
Vitaly Shevchenko has probably been charged under Article 62 (Ukraine SSR Criminal Code =Article 70 of the RSFSR Code) for taking part in the publication of the Ukrainian Herald (CCE 29), a samizdat periodical which has appeared annually for several years. Several searches were carried out in connection with the case. His relatives and acquaintances were interrogated about their knowledge of his family and about their conversations with him.
[and see “SHEVCHENKO, Vitaly Nykyforovych“, KHPG website]
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6. The Arrest of Oles (Alexander) Shevchenko (Kiev).
In the middle of April 1980, an acquaintance of Vitaly Shevchenko, who is no relation but shares the same surname was arrested. Oles Yevgenyevich SHEVCHENKO is also a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of Kiev University.
In March 1980, Alexander Shevchenko [b. 1940] was subjected to a search. Searches connected to his case took place at the home of relatives and acquaintances, in particular at V/// Mogila’s. A. Shevchenko has been charged under Article 187-1 (Ukraine SSR Criminal Code = Article 190-1 of the RSFSR Code).
[and see “Oles Yevhenyovych Shevchenko“, KHPG website]
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7. The Case of Vitaly V. Kalynychenko.
On 13 January 1980, relatives and friends gathered to say goodbye to Pavel Stokotelny, who was leaving to go abroad (see “The Right to Leave”, CCE 56.20). That day KGB officials Banev, Gonchar and Fomin came to search his home in connection with the case of Vitaly KALYNYCHENKO (CCE 55.2). All the guests, about twenty people, were forced to turn out their pockets. Stokotelny and his sisters were made to undress for a body search. Two notebooks and several sheets of an exercise book with notes were confiscated.
Vitaly Kalynychenko (b. 1938)
On 11 February 1980, Investigator Garus interrogated Yu. Dzyuba (CCE 51.23) in Kharkov.
His questions concerned two letters addressed to Kalynychenko from Dzyuba which had been confiscated in the post. On 13 February in Chernovtsy, a search was carried out at the home of Vernik (CCE 37.18). After the search he was interrogated about letters of Kalynychenko which had been confiscated. On 14 February 1980, Anatoly ZINCHENKO (CCE 34.15 & CCE 39.12) was interrogated in Kharkov: he was mentioned in letters from Dzyuba to Kalynychenko.
[and see “KALYNYCHENKO, Vitaly Vasylovych“, KHPG website]
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AFTER RELEASE
KIEV. At the end of December 1979, Vasyl STUS asked the head of his workshop to transfer him to lighter work. The head promised to make him a time-keeper, but the personnel section prohibited the transfer. In the middle of January 1980, Stus was sacked.
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KHARKOV. In autumn 1979, Anatoly ZDOROVY (CCE 54.13) was fined 20 roubles for not being at home during the hours laid down by the surveillance regulations. On 15 February 1980, Investigator Garus interrogated him regarding his letters to Yu. Shukhevich in Chistopol Prison (Tatarstan) and to Lev Lukyanenko in Perm Camp 36.
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LVOV. When Stefania SHABATURA was released from exile she was instructed to go to Lvov and be placed under surveillance (CCE 55.5 c & CCE 56.3). The police refuse to register her in Lvov, however, even though she owns a flat in the city where her elderly mother is living.
On 10 January 1980, the police recorded that Shabatura was living there without a residence permit. They gave her a ‘first warning’. Lvov is now a high-security city, the police claim, in which people with jail records cannot register. In February Shabatura was asked to register in the village of Sokilniki. She has already been given a ‘second warning’.
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LVOV REGION. Zinovy KRASIVSKY (CCE 39.3, CCE 41.7 & CCE 42.5) handed in his documents to leave for Israel to join his son.
On 12 March 1980, he was arrested. The Vladimir Region Court had revoked its decision to release him before the end of his sentence (CCE 51.11). Krasivsky has been sent away to serve his ‘unserved time’, eight months’ imprisonment and five years of exile (see “Prisons and Camps”, CCE 56.21).
The same day searches were carried out at the homes of Krasivsky’s wife Olena Antoniv and former political prisoner Mikhail HORYN (Goryn). Several manuscripts, photographs and correspondence were confiscated. Krasivsky’s flat in Morshin, occupied by his son, a schoolboy in the ninth class, was sealed up.
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MISCELLANEOUS
1. Tokayuk is Beaten up
At the end of January 1980, 0lga MATUSEVICH and Grigory TOKAYUK (CCE 51.16 item 4, and CCE 53.25) sent Andrei Sakharov a telegram of sympathy on account of his exile.
On 11 February 1980, Tokayuk was seized near his house by strangers who pushed him into a car, drove him off to a wood and beat him up, saying as they did it: “Don’t hang around with nationalists!” The next day Tokayuk was hospitalized with concussion.
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2. Persecution of the Sichko Family
On 2 February Stefania Petrash, the wife of Pavlo and mother of Vasily SICHKO (CCE 54.11 & CCE 55.1), was given a warning “according to the Decree”. The authorities demand that she break off her contacts with members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, in particular with Oksana Meshko. Petrash refused to sign the record of the warning.
Stefania’s younger son has been expelled from his third year in the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Kiev University. “Your son won’t study at the university,” Investigator Medvedev told her: “It is of no advantage to the State to educate an enemy”’. Petrash appealed to the UN Human Rights Commission, to progressive public opinion, and to women who are mothers, to intervene on behalf of her family.
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NOTES
[1] Ivan Sokulsky, (CCE 12, CCE 17 & CCE 27).
A Chronicle of Current Events 