Vladimir Bukovsky

Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky ({{lang-ru|????????? ??????????????? ??????????}}; b. December 30 1942 is a notable former Soviet dissident, author and a human rights activist. He was one of the first to expose the use of psychiatric imprisonment against political prisoners in the USSR. He spent a total of twelve years in Soviet prisons, labor camps and in psikhushkas,

Related Topics:
December 30 - 1942 - Soviet - Dissident - Author - Human rights - Psychiatric imprisonment - Political prisoner - Prison - Labor camp - Psikhushka

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forced-treatment psychiatric hospitals used by the regime as special prisons.

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Vladimir Bukovsky was born in town of Belebei, Bashkirian ASSR, Russia (now Bashkortostan), where his family was evacuated from Moscow during World War II.

Related Topics:
Russia - Bashkortostan - Evacuated - Moscow - World War II

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In 1959 he was excluded from his Moscow school for creating and editing an unauthorized magazine.

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From June 1963 to February 1964, Bukovsky was convicted (Article 70-1 of the Penal Code of the RSFSR) and sent to a psikhushka for organizing poetry meetings in the center of Moscow (next to the Mayakovsky monument).

Related Topics:
1963 - 1964 - Penal Code - RSFSR - Poetry - Moscow - Mayakovsky

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In January 1965 he was arrested for organizing a demonstration in defense of Alexander Ginzburg, Yuri Galanskov and other dissidents (Article 190-1, 3 years of imprisonment); released in January 1970.

Related Topics:
1965 - Alexander Ginzburg - Yuri Galanskov - 1970

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In 1971, Bukovsky managed to smuggle to the West over 150 pages documenting abuse of psychiatric institutions for political reasons in the USSR. The information galvanized human rights activists worldwide (including inside the country) and was a pretext for his subsequent arrest in January 1972, officially for contacts with foreign journalists and possession and distribution of samizdat (Article 70-1, 7 years of imprisonment plus 5 years in exile).

Related Topics:
1971 - The West - 1972 - Samizdat

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Together with fellow inmate in Vladimir prison, psychiatrist Semyon Gluzman, he coauthored A Manual on Psychiatry for Dissidents to help other dissidents to fight the authorities abuses.

Related Topics:
Vladimir prison - Psychiatrist

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The fate of Bukovsky and other political prisoners in the USSR, repeatedly brought to attention by Western human rights groups and diplomats, was a cause of embarrassment and irritation for the Soviet authorities.

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In December of 1976, while imprisoned, Bukovsky was exchanged for former Chilean Communist leader Luis Corvalán. In his autobiographical novel And the Wind Returns, Bukovsky describes how he was brought to Switzerland handcuffed.

Related Topics:
1976 - Chile - Communist - Luis Corvalán - Switzerland

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Since 1976 Bukovsky has lived in Cambridge, England, focusing on neurophysiology and writing. He received a Ph.D. in Biology and has written several books and political essays. In addition to criticizing the Soviet regime, he also picked apart what he calls "Western gullibility", a lack of a tough stand of Western liberalism against Communist abuses.

Related Topics:
1976 - Cambridge - England - Neurophysiology - Ph.D. - Biology - Liberalism

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In 1983, together with Vladimir Maximov and Eduard Kuznetsov he cofounded and was elected president of international anti-Communist organization Resistance International (????????????? ?????????????).

Related Topics:
1983 - Vladimir Maximov - Eduard Kuznetsov - Resistance International

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In 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the new Russian government invited Bukovsky to serve as an expert to testify at the trial conducted by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to determine whether the CPSU had been a criminal institution. To prepare for his testimony, Bukovsky requested and was granted access to a large number of documents from Soviet archives. Using a small handheld scanner and a laptop computer, he managed to secretly scan many documents (some with high security clearance), including KGB reports to the Central Committee, and smuggle the files to the West. The event that many expected would be another Nuremberg Trial and reconciliation with the past, ended up in half-measure (only the central organs of the party were outlawed) and Bukovsky expressed his deep disappointment with this result in his interviews. It took two years and a team of assistants to compose the scanned pieces together and publish it. The book, Judgement in Moscow, was translated to many languages and attracted international attention. As a result, Bukovsky was designated persona non grata in new Russia since 1996.

Related Topics:
1992 - Collapse of the Soviet Union - Supreme Court - Russian Federation - CPSU - Criminal - Laptop computer - Security clearance - KGB - Central Committee - Nuremberg Trial - Persona non grata - 1996

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Bukovsky is a member of the Board of Directors of the Gratitude Fund.

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In 2004, together with Gary Kasparov, Boris Nemtsov and others, Bukovsky cofounded public political Committee 2008:Free Choice (2008:????????? ?????).

Related Topics:
2004 - Gary Kasparov - Boris Nemtsov

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