USSR News Brief, 15 December 1986 (Issue 22/23-1) On 8 December 1986 Anatoly MARCHENKO (b. 1938), a political prisoner for many years, died in the maximum-security Chistopol Prison (Tatarstan). For several months prior to his death, he had been on hunger strike, started on 8 August 1986 (1986: 17-7, 15 September). Official reports of his … Continue reading The Death of Anatoly Marchenko (8 December 1986)
<<No 32 : 17 July 1974>> On 19 April 1974, issue No. 10 of the journal Veche [Gathering or Moot] appeared. The chief editor is not V.N. Osipov, under whose signature the previous nine issues appeared, but I.V. Ovchinnikov. As far as can be judged from the series of statements made by the journal’s editor … Continue reading About the Journal “Veche”, April-July 1974 (32.13)
«No 32 : 17 July 1974» A group of Jewish scientists who wish to emigrate to Israel and have for long been deprived of work and scholarly contacts with their colleagues in the USSR, have invited the international scientific community to attend an international seminar in Moscow devoted to the application of physics and mathematics … Continue reading Moscow’s Unofficial Scientific Seminar, July 1974 (32.12)
<<No 60 : 31 December 1980>> On 26 September 1980 the feminist Natalya Lazareva (b. 1947) was arrested in Leningrad (on feminism, see CCE 55.9 "Miscellaneous Reports" and 57.18 "The Right to Leave"). She was charged under Article 190-1 of the RSFSR Criminal Code.[1] On 16 December searches were conducted in Leningrad in connection with … Continue reading The Arrests of Lazareva and Maltseva, September 1980 (60.10)
«No 47 : 30 November 1977» The Perm Camps On 4 October, the day the Belgrade Conference opened, political prisoners in Camps 35 and 36 held a hunger-strike. It is known that the hunger-strike in Camp 36 lasted a week, about 15 people taking part in it. 30 October, “Political Prisoners’ Day”, was marked by … Continue reading In Other Prisons and Camps (47.9)
Persecution of Believers (CCE 48.16), pt 2 [1] CATHOLICS IN MOLDAVIA; [2] ADVENTISTS Catholics in Moldavia There are 15,000 Catholics in Moldavia. They are Germans, Poles and Ukrainians. Communities of Catholics exist in Beltsy, Bendery, Tiraspol, Rashkovo, Grigorovka, Andriyashevka and other towns and villages. In the only Catholic chapel open in Moldavia the priest, Vladislav … Continue reading Persecution of Believers, March 1978 (CCE 48.16), pt 1
Belebei (USSR), 30 December 1942 — Cambridge (UK), 27 October 2019. Vladimir BUKOVSKY died of cardiac arrest in Addenbrookes Hospital, in Cambridge, England at 9:30 pm (Greenwich Mean Time) on Sunday, 27 October 2019. He was 76. His health had been poor in recent years. After his expulsion from the USSR in December 1976, he … Continue reading Vladimir Bukovsky, 1942-2019
By the mid-1970s the Chronicle regularly published a section reporting on “The persecution of [religious] believers”. Often it was further subdivided between Adventists, Pentecostalists and Baptists, joined from time to time by Orthodox Christians and Catholics in Moldova. References to the harassment of Jehovah’s Witnesses are far less frequent, as the following examples show. (There … Continue reading The persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses (1970-1986)
<<No 36 : 31 May 1975>> CCE 35 has already reported on the series of arrests in Tallinn. According to more precise information, the following people were arrested on 13-14 December 1974 in Tallinn: Dr Arvo Varato (40 years old); engineer Matti Kiirend (36 years old); Kalju Mattik (41 years old), lecturer at the Polytechnic … Continue reading The Arrests in Tallinn, May 1975 (38.3)
<<No 36 : 31 May 1975>> On 18 April 1975 searches were carried out at the homes of Valentin Turchin, chairman of the Soviet Amnesty International group, and at those of Amnesty group-members Vladimir Albrekht (Moscow) and Mykola Rudenko (Kiev). The searches took place in connection with case number 41045/48-75. No information was given as … Continue reading The Eighteenth of April, 1975 (36.2)
<<No 36 : 31 May 1975>> On 18 April 1975 Andrei Tverdokhlebov, an active participant in the human rights movement, was arrested in Moscow. The arrest was carried out by the Moscow procurator’s office. Tverdokhlebov is charged under Article 190-1 of the RSFSR Criminal Code. The investigation is headed by Senior Investigator Gusev of the … Continue reading The Arrest of Andrei Tverdokhlebov, 18 April 1975 (36.1)
<<No 29 : 31 July 1973>> Andrei Amalrik was due to complete his 3-year prison sentence on 21 May 1973. On 22 May his wife, G. Makudinova, was informed that the Procurator’s Office of Magadan had instituted new proceedings under Article 190-1 of the RSFSR Criminal Code. This was Amalrik’s second indictment under Article 190-1. … Continue reading The Camp Trial of Andrei Amalrik, 18 July 1973 (29.7)
<<No 29 : 31 July 1973>> The case of Leonid Plyushch was tried by the Kiev Regional Court on 25-29 January 1973. The judge was Dyshel. The case was heard behind closed doors, with the accused not present. According to the Chronicle's information, none of the officially appointed psychiatrists was present in court. The defence … Continue reading The Case of Leonid Plyushch, July 1973 (29.6)
<<No 38 : 31 December 1975>> V. Igrunov is threatened with internment in a special psychiatric hospital. As far as the Chronicle knows, in the last three years no such sentences have been imposed in “political” cases.[i] There follows an account of the investigation in Igrunov’s case, including (for the reader’s convenience) some episodes reported … Continue reading The Case of Vyacheslav Igrunov, December 1975 (38.8)
