On 13 August the Tselinograd Regional Court, presided over by E. Kh. Dautova, heard the case of Razmik Markosyan (b. 1949), charged under Article 170-1 of the Kazakh SSR Criminal Code (= Article 190-1 of the RSFSR Code) and Article 198 (‘escape from a place of exile …’). The prosecutor was Procurator V. V. Vasilenko; defence counsel was the lawyer U. S. Khayauri.
Markosyan had previously been arrested in June 1974. He was then sentenced under Article 65 (Armenian SSR Criminal Code = Article 70 of the RSFSR Code) and Article 67 (= Article 72) to four years’ in the camps and two years’ exile (CCE 34.4).
Markosyan served his exile in Kenbidaik village, Kurgaldzhinsky district, Tselinograd Region (//CCE 51). His term of exile expired on 2 June 1980. On 27 April he was arrested in Tselinograd (CCE 57.20).
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Under Article 170-1 Markosyan was charged with three statements (two to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet and one to the Presidium of the Armenian Supreme Soviet), which he had sent from the camps back in 1977, with a statement to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet sent in December 1978 from exile, and a letter to the USSR Procurator-General which was not sent, but found in a search on 28 April.
The judgment says that the statements to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet contain
‘deliberately false, slanderous fabrications defaming our Soviet political and social system, alleging in particular that in the USSR nations do not have the right of self-determination, that citizens are persecuted in their convictions, that the Constitution is violated …’
The letter to the Procurator-General
‘contains deliberately false assertions … namely, that the foremost literary and artistic figures in the Ukrainian SSR have been arrested and are being held in places of detention for their convictions, that genocide of the Ukrainian intelligentsia is being committed in the USSR, and that human rights guaranteed by the Constitution are not being observed.
‘The judgment on this charge states that Razmik Markosyan pleaded guilty [he denies this, Chronicle] and testified that the statements addressed to the USSR Supreme Soviet, the Armenian Supreme Soviet and the USSR Procurator-General do in fact contain deliberately false … However, these statements, except for the one to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet dated 10 December 1978, were written in place of detention where he was surrounded by people convicted for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, and he did this under the influence of a camp milieu.
‘The letter to the USSR Procurator-General was also written in places of detention and was kept as a rough draft with his personal belongings, which had been sent after him from his place of detention. R. G. Markosyan further stated that, after writing the letter to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet dated 10 December 1978, he had diverged from his former convictions and now does not consider himself a member of the so-called NUP [National United Party of Armenia, “Chronicle”].’
Under Article 170-1 Markosyan was also charged as follows:
‘While in Kenbidaik village, R. G. Markosyan orally circulated deliberately false … asserting that the USSR is an aggressor, that it occupied Afghanistan, is carrying out aggressive policies with regard to Iran and intends to seize Middle Eastern oil, that there is no freedom of speech in the USSR, human rights are being violated and people are being persecuted for their convictions.’
In the relevant section the judgment cites the evidence of witnesses V. N. Zlyuchy and D. M. Rizvanov. According to the judgment, Markosyan asserts that:
‘After 10 December 1978 he never called the USSR an aggressor, never circulated any information defaming … never told Zlyuchy or Rizvanov this information.’
A trip made by Markosyan to Tselinograd without a travel permit was what the court regarded as an escape from his place of exile — one month and six days before his term of exile ended! According to the judgment, Markosyan stated at his trial that
‘he did not know that he needed a travel permit; on 27 April he left for Tselinograd with the oral permission of Bukshiev, the Deputy Head of the district OVD, who had on previous occasions given him oral permission to travel to Tselinograd.’
The witness S. M. Taroyan confirmed that Markosyan had been given oral permission to travel to Tselinograd; witnesses S. B. Bukshiev and Sadvokasov denied it. According to the judgment:
‘the court gives preference to the evidence of witness of S. B. Bukshiev and Sadvokasov, and rejects the evidence of S. M. Taroyan, since S. M. Taroyan is an exile and his evidence … is in the nature of a defence of R. G. Markosyan and defamation of police officers.’
The judgment ends with the words:
‘The material evidence —A. D. Sakharov’s book My Country and the World — is to be destroyed …’
The court sentenced Markosyan to three years’ strict-regime camps (into which the remaining one month and six days of his exile are to be absorbed).
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The Moscow Helsinki Group adopted Document 142 ‘On the Second Trial of Razmik Markosyan’.
‘The charge against Markosyan of intending to escape from his place of exile is simply absurd.
‘A little over a month remained until he was legally entitled to return home. A mere infringement of the regulations governing exiles prescribed by the Corrective Labour Code has been construed as an escape. Without written permission from the police, Markosyan went by bus to Tselinograd for a few hours, without any intention of escaping.
‘[…] Thus, the very text of the court’s judgment establishes the fact that Markosyan was convicted for openly expressing complaints to Soviet institutions and his beliefs in conversations with private individuals. There are no other charges against him.’
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