On 2 March 1981 Jűri Kukk (CCE 56.17, CCE 61.12), who was still on hunger-strike, arrived at a camp in Murmansk (Northwest Russia) from Tallinn. He was at once sent back south to a hospital in Vologda — distension of the stomach was diagnosed — where he died not later than 28 March.
On 30 March his wife and five friends buried him in Vologda: the authorities would not permit the body to be taken to Tartu. Kukk’s body was extremely emaciated and blackened. His wife and friends are of the opinion that he died as a result of his long hunger-strike and incorrect treatment during this time.
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On 5 April a ‘literary reading’ took place in a Moscow flat in memory of Jűri Kukk.
Moscow refuseniks A. Aberson, K. Balkhasyants, V. Vail, G. Vigdarov, V. Kats, B. Klots, V. Magarik, O. Popov, A. Radin, I. Sapiro, N. Fradkova and N.Khasina sent this statement to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet:
“We have learned with deep sorrow of the martyr’s death of Estonian chemist Jűri Kukk, who gave his life trying to exercise his right to leave the USSR.
“In honour of the memory of the deceased, we, the undersigned, declare a one-day hunger-strike for 12 April 1981.“
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On 1 May an ‘Open Statement from a Group of Estonian Citizens’ was sent to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet (with a copy to the USSR Procurator-General):
“Today, 1 May 1981, Jűri Kukk would have been 41 years old. Jűri Kukk’s death is something which his numerous friends and students cannot accept without a feeling of protest.
“A healthy man, a scientist with an international reputation, is persecuted by the authorities because he openly expressed his views, is removed from his job at the university, is locked up in prison, and he dies a few months later after his trial, at the age of 40.
“On 8 January 1981 Jűri Kukk was sentenced to two years’ deprivation of freedom for slander (under Article 194-1 of the Estonian Criminal Code). Was Jűri Kukk capable of slander? Slander presupposes deliberate deception, and this was not in his nature. He was one of the few people who are capable of speaking the truth and of dying for it. He had a keen mind and a pure heart. Thousands of ordinary people, who are not charged with slander as he was, will not find anyone among them to equal him, a man who managed and dared to do so much.
“Jűri Kukk commenced his hunger-strike on 22 November 1980, while his case was under investigation, and maintained it right up to his death, which, according to some accounts, can be dated 24 March 1981. Jűri Kukk died. There have been cases when people have maintained a hunger-strike for over a year. His co-defendant Mart Niklus has been on hunger-strike since 23 August 1980. What is the price of a human being, as opposed to a statistical unit?
“Jűri Kukk is dead. Could a slanderer, deceitful by nature, have staged a protest hunger-strike? A slanderer would have left someone else without food. Jűri Kukk was only superficially in captivity. His spirit was not subject to the measures prescribed by article 194-1; he disassociated himself from the bars, the jailers and the food they offered him. In addition to suffering the prohibitions imposed by the authorities, it Is possible to reject that which the authorities themselves never refuse. A hunger-strike constitutes such a rejection.
“The prisoner who scratches at the locked door behaves as the authorities expect him to – a hunger-striking prisoner is an inaccessible force. Going on hunger-strike means denying oneself in the name of the idea of Life. Only a few are capable of this.
“During the trial Jűri Kukk weighed 47 kilograms (he was 172 cm tall), Mart Niklus not much more. Nevertheless, these two emaciated men were guarded by two dozen KGB officials, who barred the entrance to the courtroom to all but those whom the authorities had decided in advance would be present at the trial. The sentence – two years of ordinary-regime camp for Jűri Kukk and ten years’ special-regime camp and five years’ exile for Mart Niklus – proved a death sentence for Kukk.
“Do we have the right to honour the memory of Jűri Kukk? Did Jűri Kukk die as a result of his hunger-strike? Or was he murdered? He was a healthy man, a fact borne out by the documents which accompanied his transfer to Murmansk on 2 March 1981. A sick person is not sent off under armed escort. Why was Jűri Kukk sent from Estonia to imprisonment in the RSFSR? Article 6 of the Estonian Corrective Labour Code states that his type of sentence should be served on the territory of the Estonian SSR.
“If Jűri Kukk had really been well, he would not have been buried on 30 March. A great man has been destroyed.
“Do not his friends, having recovered from their initial shock, have the right to ask questions?
“Different institutions have given different reasons for Jűri Kukk’s death. Vologda Prison Hospital said that his stomach was distended and that this caused heart failure and emphysema. The Tartu Register Office gave heart insufficiency as the cause of death. This too forces us to ask questions.
“Will his widow’s application for an investigation into the circumstances of Jűri Kukk’s death be granted? Will it be possible to avert the danger threatening the lives of Mart Niklus and others who are similarly imprisoned?“
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