<<USSR News Brief, 15 February 1987>>

During the first week in February 1987 a large group of political prisoners were released from the political camps, Chistopol Prison (Tatarstan) and internal exile.

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[NOTE

Throughout 1987 there were often erroneous reports about the release of individuals who were still in the camps or in exile.

In this and following reports during the year the names and surnames of those not yet released are printed in ITALIC in the text and the lists, ed.]

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The prisoners or exiles were released on the basis of two decrees issued in February 1987 by the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet:

• Decree No. 6463-xi — pardoning of a listed group of individuals;
• Decree No. 6462-xi — release of another group “from continuing to serve their sentence”.

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9 FEBRUARY 1987 DECREE

At a press conference on 11 February 1987, USSR Foreign Ministry (MFA) spokesman Gennady Gerasimov state that yet another decree concerning the release of the prisoners had been passed by the Presidium on 9 February 1987.

It has still not been published. No one has been freed since 9 February, moreover, whose release could be linked to that decree.

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The information we are receiving about the release of prisoners and exiles is quite contradictory.

When this issue of Vesti was due to appear, we knew of 34 individuals who had been released within the terms of the two Decrees.

[NOTE: One of those named in this report, Mikhail Kukobaka, would not actually be released for another six weeks; all but two of the rest had served four years and less of a sentence of imprisonment in the camps or in Chistopol Prison.]

Other names have appeared in the press and agency reports.

It was mistakenly announced that Genrikh Altunyan and Victor Nekipelov have been released. Others named have already reached the end of their sentences or were released earlier: Lagle Parek, Vadim Yankov and Antanas Terleckas.

There have also been reports about the release of five other prisoners – Belyakov, Dubinsky (or Dubensky), Gridnev, Pashtents [actually Arvo Pesti] and Georgy Kashlev. Either they are formerly unknown political prisoners, or their names have become distorted in transmission.

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1

USSR MFA press conference

At the aforementioned press conference (11 February 1987), Gerasimov declared that 140 people had already been released and that “approximately the same number” were due for release.

The procurator who spoke to political prisoners from the Perm Camps before their release, said that all who had been convicted under Article 70 («Anti-Soviet Agitation & Propaganda») and the analogous laws in the Criminal Code of the other 14 Union Republics were due for release; as were those convicted under Article 64 («Treason»), who should have been prosecuted for ‘unlawful crossing of the border’ [¹], not for»Betrayal of the Motherland». 

During that same conversation the procurator said the present Decrees issued by the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet would not apply to those being held in special-regime penal colonies.

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We can state with confidence that 140 prisoners have NOT yet been released.

Reports of the release of those listed above arrived during the first days after the 2 February 1987 Decree was adopted. Then the flow of new names almost came to a halt, which had nothing to do with difficulties in obtaining information.

The number of those actually freed is still not clear.

Before Sergei Grigoryants was released, Major Akhmadeyev, director of Chistopol Prison, showed him a list of those due for release. It contained 51 names. […]

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PARDONS

At the press conference, Gerasimov said that all those released had appealed for a pardon to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet.

The situation, in reality, was far more complex and the true circumstances of these prisoners’ release were not entirely clear.

Certain political prisoners indeed applied for a pardon.

It was suggested to the great majority that they adopt some kind of compromise formula and many wrote such appeals as “I did not commit and shall not commit State crimes”. For the signatory it was important to state that he / she did not consider him/herself guilty; the authorities were keen to obtain her / his promise that she / he would not commit such crimes in future.

Some, evidently a minority, were not asked to sign anything and yet they were released.

Who belongs to which category in the aforementioned list is hard to say, thus far.

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Political prisoners released from the Perm camps were taken in groups to the nearest rail station (cordoned off at the time) and put on trains. From there on, they journeyed without guard or escort.

It’s known that many, if not all, of the freed prisoners were given instructions to reach their chosen place of residence within three days — rather strange because the receipt of a pardon restores the same rights to a prisoner as other citizens. Almost all chose their former place of residence, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, where they were living before their arrest.

So far as is known they have not been encountering difficulties in getting a resident permit (propiska).

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2

A special group

Certain prisoners, transferred from the camps and Chistopol Prison to detention centres near their pre-arrest place of residence, find themselves in a special position.

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LEFORTOVO

Mikhail Rivkin, Alexei Smirnov, Valery Senderov and Sergei Khodorovich are all in Moscow at the KGB’s Lefortovo Prison (detention centre).

Negotiations are proceeding with Senderov and Khodorovich, and with their relatives, about their emigration from the USSR: the authorities are insisting on it. Senderov’s mother was allowed to see him in order to convince her that he is not presently on hunger strike.

It is a demand that all at Lefortovo write some statement or other.

Mikhail Rivkin [²] has written a detailed statement of unknown content, but he has not yet been released.

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TBILISI

The brothers Tengiz and Eduard Gudava, Emmanuil Tvaladze and, it would seem, Irakly Tsereteli (and someone else, making a total of 5-6 people) are being held at the KGB Prison in Tbilisi.

Attempts are being made to obtain statements from them as well. Tengiz Gudava has refused to write any type of statement.

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KHARKIV

Genrikh Altunyan, Yevgeny Antsupov and Anatoly Koryagin have been transferred to the KGB Prison in Kharkov, east Ukraine.

As stated above, Antsupov was soon released. Not long before her husband was freed, Antsupov’s wife was told that they would soon be permitted to emigrate.

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KORYAGIN

Koryagin’s situation is more complicated.

They did not let his wife see him on 3 February, as promised, but asked her to ring on 5 February 1987.

When she phoned, she was told that Koryagin had been moved somewhere else. Later it became known that he was in the KGB’s prison in Kiev. His wife was told that his case was “being examined by the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium”.

To begin with, as we reported earlier, negotiations were held with Koryagin’s wife about their emigration as a family. Koryagin’s wife said that not only Anatoly Koryagin was being held in detention, but also their son Ivan. To which the KGB replied that it would “not be a problem” to release their son. Ivan Koryagin was even transferred to a camp in the town of Balakliya, not far from Kharkov. Now, however, conversation about leaving the country has ended.

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3

Cases still under review

Evidently, the cases of those who remain in the camps are being re-examined.

For instance, Vyacheslav Cherepanov and Bogdan Klimchak, both convicted under Article 64 (or its equivalent), and a number of other people have already had their photos taken for the ID document [internal passport] that is given to a prisoner who has been freed. They have not yet been released.

The sharp reduction in prisoners in the Perm political camps has led to their internal re-organisation. There are no longer permanent guards outside the punishment cells at camp VS-389/35; equipment has been removed from the work rooms.

Criminal prisoners have been set to work in the boiler room.

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Discussions are continuing about the future of political prisoners who are held in camps for criminal offenders.

The wife of Vladimir Albrekht was told that he would return to Moscow in the near future, even perhaps on 16 February. The conditions under which he is being released are as yet unknown.

There were also negotiations with Josif Zissels about signing some statement.

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4

Exiles do (do not) ask for their case be reconsidered

SVETOV & KRAKHMALNIKOVA

Felix Svetov and his wife Zoya Krakhmalnikova, who are in exile, have been asked to write a statement requesting a pardon.

They have refused.

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KOVALYOV & OSIPOVA

On 27 January 1987, Ivan Kovalyov and Tatyana Osipova (who are in exile) requested a review of their case. The Kostroma Region Procurator considered their statement unsatisfactory, although he agreed to accept it.

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Russian original, 15 February 1987, «Вести из СССР»

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NOTES

In an early 1987 report to Gorbachov, the head of the KGB and the USSR Procurator General (1 February 1987*, 183-Ch) listed numbers of prisoners held in a variety of institutions for the two most widespread political offences:

• 114 for «Anti-Soviet Agitation & Propaganda» (Article 70);
• 119 for «disseminating Fabrications known to be False, which Defame the Soviet Political and Social System» (Article 190-1);
• plus 55 now serving terms of exile for committing either of these offences.

In addition, said Chebrikov and Rekunkov, there was a «special category of individuals (96 persons) who committed offences … when they were insane and were sent for compulsory medical treatment.»

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1. See Article 83, «Illegal entry to, or departure from, the USSR» (Soviet Laws).
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2. See «The Trial of Mikhail Rivkin«, Vesti, 15 November 1983 (No. 21).
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