From 25 September to 10 October 1974 the trial took place in Riga of Lev Aleksandrovich LADYZHENSKY, D.Sc. (Physics and Mathematics), acting head of the Laboratory of Mathematical Methods at the Baltic Scientific Research Institute for the Fishing Industry, and of Fyodor Yakovlevich KOROVIN, senior engineer at the Latvian University Computer Centre.
Both were charged with anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (CCE 32.20 [4]). The presiding judge in the case was Lotko; the people’s assessors were Shcherbakova and Ryazanskaya.
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INDICTMENT
In the indictment, Ladyzhensky and Korovin (either singly or together) were charged with storing, reproducing (by retyping) and disseminating the following documents:
- the story “This is Moscow Speaking” (according to the indictment this story is about ‘a campaign of terror against the leaders of the Communist Party and the government’) and the story “The Man from MINA P”, both by N. Arzhak (Yu. Daniel);
- the story Lyubimov (according to the indictment, it ‘contains a slander against V. I. Lenin’);
- the article ‘What is Socialist Realism?’ by A. Tertz (A. Sinyavsky);
- the book The Technology of Power‘ and the article ‘The Partocracy’ by Avtorkhanov;
- an ‘Open Letter’ and a ‘Letter to the PEN Club’ by Zelinkov;
- Conquest’s work The Great Terror;
- the article ‘The Russian Path of Transition to Socialism’ by Academician Varga;
- the article by Amalrik, Will the Soviet Union Survive Until 1984?’;
- A. Bolonkin’s article, ‘A Comparison of the Standard of Living of the Workers of Tsarist Russia, Those of the USSR, and Those of Leading Capitalist Countries’;
- the article ‘Tank Logic’;
- a ‘Letter from Prague’;
- a letter ‘To the Deputies of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet’ by V. Moroz;
- the statement ‘This Is How We Live!’ by Solzhenitsyn;
- Ladyzhensky’s own letter to the Procurator General of the USSR about illegalities committed during trials (1967);
- a number of issues of A Chronicle of Current Events (according to the indictment the Chronicle contains libels even on the ‘theory of Marxism-Leninism), and
- a number of issues of the Messenger of the Russian Student Christian Movement (Vestnik RSKhD).
The criminally-indicted actions took place from 1966 to 1973.
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It was noted in the indictment that the prosecution greatly appreciated the active assistance given by Ladyzhensky and Korovin during the pre-trial investigation; they had given very detailed and thorough evidence and should not be blamed for failing to remember a few dates and persons.
Both the accused pleaded guilty: they admitted that their opinions had been anti-Soviet (Ladyzhensky had been ‘influenced by anti-Soviet radio broadcasts’, while Korovin ‘had been influenced by Ladyzhensky’); they also admitted the objectively anti-Soviet nature of their activities, although they denied that their intention had been to undermine Soviet authority.
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FINAL WORDS
In their final statements both men spoke mainly about their long and hard-working careers:
Ladyzhensky: “I think the honourable procurator has accused me of having a love for capitalism and the bourgeois West. Such an accusation was never made during the investigation, such a thought never entered anyone’s mind, and I cannot leave this charge unanswered.
“All my life I have hated the rule of idle people; all my sympathies are on the side of the workers, one of whom I consider myself.” (Here Ladyzhensky listed a number of research jobs at which he had worked, Chronicle.)
“I do not speak of this as a boast — these were not epoch-making discoveries. It was simply work, the ordinary work of an ordinary Soviet scientific worker. I am simply answering the procurator’s accusation. For the last twenty years I have worked at the rate of fifteen hours a day. It was creative work, for which I lived and without which I could not live.”
Korovin: “I am guilty, I have committed a crime. I realized this too late (.. .) But all the same I cannot accept the prosecution’s charge here that I am an anti-Soviet, I have never been anti-Soviet. I grew up in a Soviet family.
“I studied at a Soviet school. I worked as a metal craftsman in a mine for six years. I worked among Soviet people — workers who never told me I was anti-Soviet. In essence, I have remained a worker myself — I have had no higher education. I always tried to work hard and I was happy that my work was of use to everyone.”
Both the accused asked the court to take into account the great value of their specialised work to the country. They reminded the court that their sons (Ladyzhensky’s son is 14 years old, Korovin’s is seven) had been left without fathers, who were necessary for their upbringing and development.
In addition, Ladyzhensky said in his closing speech :
“Finally, I regret most of all that so few people are present in the courtroom to hear my words” (the trial took place in closed court, Chronicle). “In the past, when such trials as this were discussed, people always said that illegalities were committed during the investigation, that the accused were subjected to pressure, that they were badly treated. I myself talked in this way.
“I want to say that if people are going to say such things about this trial, I hope they will not refer to me as a source. I have not noticed any violations of Soviet laws during this investigation and trial, although I was careful to look out for such things. The entire investigation and the judicial proceedings have taken place in strict accordance with all the norms of Soviet justice.”
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The court regarded the guilt of the accused as proved, and observed that their intentions could be deduced from the contents of the literature in evidence and the actions of the accused in acquiring, copying and storing it. The aims of the accused could also be deduced from the long-term nature of their activities, and from the fact that they became still more active after their warnings of 1968.
The court sentenced Ladyzhensky to three years in a strict-regime labour camp and three years in exile; Korovin was sentenced to two years in a labour camp and two years in exile.
As regards the following persons who figured in the case — Buiko, Tsvetkov, Plyukhanov, Baitman, Kilov, Rubinchik (Riga), Mirman, Margulis (Moscow), Prestinsky, Kuchinskaya (Leningrad) and Magelatov (Gelendzhik) — the evidence concerning them was set aside for separate consideration.
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Ladyzhensky is now in Camp 36 in the Perm camp complex. He has been put to work on a ‘vybro-stand’.
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The Chronicle gives the addresses of the accused men’s families:
Riga, ul. Kirova, 13, flat 6, Braika Abramovna Raizman (wife of Ladyzhensky).
Riga, ul. Suvorova, 32, flat 37, Zoya Korovina.
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A Chronicle of Current Events 