[1]
On 22 January 1975, two more searches were carried out in Moscow in connection with “Case 345”, which is being conducted by the Lithuanian KGB (CCE 34.6).
These were at the homes of Malva Landa, for the second time, and of Tatyana Khodorovich. Samizdat and a typewriter were confiscated (from Landa). There was no material which concerned Lithuania. Landa was interrogated the following day, but refused to give any evidence.
*
[2]
Sergei Kovalyov is in a Vilnius prison (arrest CCE 34.1). The investigation of his case is being conducted by Senior Investigator Major A. A. Istomin (Perm KGB), who earlier took part in the investigation of Case 24 (CCE 29.8).
*
In February and March 1975 Investigator Yurikov questioned the biologist Valery Maresin, a colleague of Kovalyov, on three occasions.
The interrogations concerned in particular the incident involving The Gulag Archipelago, which prompted Kovalyov’s 17 October 1974 letter to KGB chairman Andropov: Kovalyov asked that the copy of The Gulag Archipelago which had been confiscated from Maresin not long before and handed over to the KGB, be returned to him.
Maresin refused to answer questions concerning The Gulag Archipelago, although he said that Kovalyov’s letter was known to him.
*
[4]
On 13 February investigators Yurikov and Istomin interrogated M. M. Litvinov and F. P. Yosinovskaya (Pavel Litvinov’s parents). Both of them were shown a letter by Pavel Litvinov which had been confiscated during the search at Sergei Kovalyov’s home.
The letter spoke, in particular, of the publication of A Chronicle of Current Events in New York by the publishing house Khronika Press and the undesirability of its being issued by publishing houses linked with NTS [1]. Both Yasinovskaya and M. Litvinov stated that they had not seen the letter before. They described their relationship with Kovalyov as friendly and spoke highly of his qualities as a person and a scientist.
*
[5]
On 28 February Istomin questioned Ludmila Boitsova, Sergei Kovalyov’s wife. The interrogation took place in Vilnius, where Boitsova had gone to deliver a parcel to her husband.
*
[7]
On 4 March Balys Gajauskas, Birute Pasiliene and Algirdas Petrusevicius were questioned in Vilnius. All three had been questioned at the end of December 1974, after their homes were searched (CCE 34.7).
Thy were asked about their acquaintanceship and relationship with each other, with various Lithuanians, with Sergei Kovalyov, with Galina Salova (wife of Lyubarsky) and other Muscovites.
Gajauskas was once again asked about the list of Lithuanian prisoners which had been found at his home. He replied:
“I know many Lithuanian prisoners, as I myself was recently imprisoned for 25 years. I know their sufferings well and I consider it a charitable duty to help those who return home after completing their sentences, and to greet them. I compiled this list, so that I would not forget anyone.”
When asked why he was translating The Gulag Archipelago into Lithuanian (50 translated, handwritten pages were confiscated from him), Gajauskas replied: “I hope that one day the book will be published in the Soviet Union and my translation would then be useful.”
B. Pasiliene was again asked, in vain, how the book The Gulag Archipelago had come to be in her home; she was also asked about her acquaintance with L. Boitsova. She answered that when she had heard from friends that the investigator had told Boitsova to bring her parcel without taking anyone with her, she had offered her help, although earlier she was not acquainted with her, and had met her at the station in Vilnius.
*
[8]
On 28 March in Vilnius Istomin interrogated Alexander Lavut, who had come there with a parcel for Kovalyov.
Lavut refused to give any evidence “as a criminal investigation into such a case is an obstacle to the free dissemination of information”. After the signing of the record of the interrogation, Istomin asked if CCE 34 had come out yet, explaining that Sergei Adamovich Kovalyov was interested in knowing this. When he did not receive an answer, Istomin added:
“We are charging him with No. 33, of course; we won’t, probably, charge him with No. 34.”
*
[9]
On 28 March Gajauskas and Zilinskas were interrogated. They were shown a formal statement by experts, according to which two texts — one confiscated in Lithuania, the other from Kovalyov — had been typed on the same typewriter.
*
[10]
On 27 November 1974 Monika Gavenaite, a resident of Kaunas, was interrogated.
The interrogation continued into 28 and 29 November. She was also made to take part in personal confrontations with Juozas Grazys, who had been arrested earlier (CCE 32.10) and the Ukrainian priest V. Figolis. During the interrogation M. Gavenaite was threatened with arrest.
The trial of Grazys began in the middle of March.
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NOTE
- Until Valery Chalidze settled permanently in the USA in the early 1970s and set up the Khronika Press, previous issues of the Chronicle of Current Events (1-30) were published in West Germany by the Possev publishers: soon the Herzen Foundation in Amsterdam also began to publish the Chronicle in Russian.//
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A Chronicle of Current Events 