[This is the sixth and final installment of the transcript of the trial of Vladimir Bukovsky. Serialization began in our May 22 issue.
[The transcript of the trial, which was held in Moscow January 5, 1972, was compiled by Soviet dissident Aleksei Tumerman, who was himself arrested at the time of Nixon's trip to Moscow.
[The translation was done for Intercontinental Press by Marilyn Vogt. Explanatory material in brackets is by the translator.]
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Statement of Defense Attorney V. Ya. Shveisky
In the beginning of his statement V. Ya. Shveisky called attention to Article 2 of the RSFSR Criminal Code, which states in part that no innocent person shall be condemned and subjected to punishment. The attorney noted that Article 70 of the RSFSR Criminal Code, under which Bukovsky is being tried, can be applied only on the condition that his main aim was the undermining and weakening of Soviet power.
"I contend," declared Attorney Shveisky, "that Vladimir Bukovsky did not pursue this precise aim. But before stating my arguments, I think it is necessary to call the court's attention to one very important contradiction in the charges themselves. As is apparent from the evidence in the case, in 1963 Bukovsky was still in the Leningrad special psychiatric hospital. He was diagnosed as a 'psychopathic paranoid type.' It is true, as is seen in the conclusions of the experts, that no psychiatric treatment was applied in Bukovsky's case. But if we proceed from the assumption that he was actually ill, then everything that he now recounts about his impressions during the time of his confinement in the special psychiatric hospital — all this is the impressions he had when he was in an unhealthy state of mind, impressions which have been retained since that time in his consciousness. Therefore, if the indictment takes the view that when Bukovsky was confined to the hospital he was mentally ill, then everything he is recounting about the conditions in the psychiatric hospital should be explained not as an intent to undermine or weaken Soviet power, but as a consequence of his erroneous perception of the things he observed at that time. Therefore, the position set forth in the indictment on this question is clearly inconsistent. I am concentrating on this," Shveisky explained, "only for the purpose of pointing out a contradiction in the position set forth in the charges themselves."
In the opinion of the defense, the indictment did not cite convincing evidence that Bukovsky aimed at undermining and weakening Soviet power. "In the television interview that Bukovsky granted to Cole, and in his conversation with American correspondent Jensen, Bukovsky recounted facts that, by his own assertion, he observed in the Leningrad special psychiatric hospital. For the purpose of verifying these facts, Bukovsky made a motion that a number of witnesses be called, but you rejected his request. In the interview and the conversation there were no statements either about the Soviet system or about the political and economic basis of the Soviet regime that could be construed as attempts to undermine and weaken Soviet power.
"Bukovsky made no such statements in his conversations with Nikitinsky and Shushpanov. Similarly, the witness Shushpanov did not confirm that Bukovsky carried on anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda or promised to help him get his anti-Soviet novel circulated abroad. He showed also that the conversation about a duplicator for which Bukovsky is being charged took place at the initiative of Shushpanov himself and that the whole matter was dropped with this one conversation.
"The accusation that Bukovsky intended to organize an underground press is irrelevant here because there is no evidence that he intended to disseminate in such a way anti-Soviet and slanderous materials.
"The testimony of Bychkov and Tarasov, in particular, in which Bukovsky is accused of saying 'The regime which exists in the Soviet Union is not the one the Soviet people need,' should be viewed, I believe, as the personal interpretations of the two witnesses themselves, rather than actual statements that Bukovsky made to the witnesses.
"The contradictions in their testimony, which the court has noted, of course, serve as confirmation that their testimony was based on individual interpretations of the events."
The defense attorney further stated that he considered unproven the charge that Bukovsky had passed materials to Sebreghts. "Bukovsky himself has categorically denied this charge. V. Chalidze and A. Volpin, in whose presence the alleged transfer of materials is said to have taken place, were not called to testify," Shveisky stated. "Bukovsky's motion that they be summoned to testify in court was denied. Therefore this episode, in essence, has not been verified. All of this leads me to conclude," Shveisky went on, "that the court has not established proof that Bukovsky actually wanted to weaken the Soviet regime. Under such conditions, Bukovsky is not liable for prosecution under Article 70 of the RSFSR Criminal Code. Therefore, I request that the court find the defendant not guilty."
The Verdict
The court has carefully examined the evidence in the case of Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky, born 1942, of Russian nationality, residing at 3/5 Furmanov Street, apartment 59, in Moscow. In the court examination, witnesses and the defendant himself were questioned and the court concluded that V. K. Bukovsky is guilty of the following:
1. During 1970-71, V. K. Bukovsky engaged in systematic distribution of anti-Soviet materials of a slanderous nature, defaming the Soviet state and social system; gave slanderous information to foreign correspondents; alleged that in the Soviet Union sane persons are interned in prison-like psychiatric hospitals where they are tortured in various ways; he also had in his possession in his apartment various anti-Soviet materials of a slanderous nature.
Proof of this is the following:
A) Clippings from the foreign newspapers Washington Post, San Francisco Examiner, and Daily News with articles of a slanderous nature, defaming the Soviet state and social system, and headlined "A Russian Who Fights Against the System," "A Soviet Dissident [Inakomysliashchii] Speaks," and "A Russian Heretic [Raskol'nik] Tells of the Horrors of Madhouses — Prisons for Dissenters."
B) The film that was shown by the American television company CBS on July 28, 1970, entitled "Voices of the Russian Underground," and the commentary on that film featured in various foreign newspapers and in broadcasts by Radio Liberty, the Voice of America, and the BBC.
C) Anti-Soviet materials of a slanderous nature confiscated during a search of Bukovsky's apartment, as follows: Chronicle of Current Events number 17; an "Open Letter to the Twenty-fourth Party Congress" by Pyotr Yakir; an "Appeal by Political Prisoners Ruled Psychiatrically Not Responsible for Their Actions" by Fainberg and Borisov; and a handwritten manuscript entitled "Open Letter to the Twenty-fourth Congress" by an unknown author.
D) V. K. Bukovsky's notebook confiscated during the search of his apartment, in which phone numbers of foreign correspondents are listed.
2. V. K. Bukovsky is guilty of having carried on anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda during several meetings with V. A. Shushpanov, a former employee of the department for foreign relations of the Moscow Patriarchy; also of having asserted that in the USSR sane persons are confined in psychiatric hospitals where inhuman treatment is administered to them, and that personal freedom, freedom of speech, the press, and assembly do not exist in the Soviet Union; also of having discussions with Shushpanov with the aim of persuading the latter to utilize his official missions abroad for the illegal importation of a duplicating machine in order to set up an underground press and print anti-Soviet samizdat materials. Evidence of these charges is the testimony given by V. A. Shushpanov during the preliminary investigation and at this trial.
3. V. K. Bukovsky is guilty of having conducted anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda in meetings with Arnold Eduardovich Nikitinsky, who is a customs inspector at Sheremetyevo Airport, having declared that there is no personal freedom in the USSR, that sane persons are interned in psychiatric hospitals in our country for being dissidents, and also having tried to persuade Nikitinsky to take advantage of his official position to help arrange the illegal importation into the USSR of portable printing equipment by getting it through the customs inspection at Sheremetyevo Airport. V. K. Bukovsky's intention in this regard was to organize an underground press for distributing anti-Soviet materials of a slanderous nature.
V. K. Bukovsky is also guilty of illegal possession of two copies of the anti-Soviet magazine Possev, which he showed to Nikitinsky.
Evidence to this effect includes the handwritten testimony submitted by Nikitinsky during the preliminary investigation, the taped record of Bukovsky's confrontation with Nikitinsky, and the testimony given by Nikitinsky in court.
4. Bukovsky is guilty of having conducted anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda in the presence of servicemen Bychkov and Tarasov, whom he had just met in the cafe at the Kursk Station. He declared that in the Soviet Union the existing regime does not serve the needs of the Soviet people. He also gave them his phone number and address and the phone number of AP correspondent Astrakhan, proposing to Bychkov and Tarasov that they pass along slanderous information by calling these numbers.
Proof of this is the telephone number of V. K. Bukovsky and Astrakhan in Bychkov's notebook and the testimony of Bychkov and Tarasov given in the preliminary investigation and in court.
5. V. K. Bukovsky is guilty of having met, on March 28, 1971, in the apartment of V. N. Chalidze, with Hugo Sebreghts, a Belgian citizen who had come to the Soviet Union as a tourist on instructions of an anti-Soviet Flemish committee. Hugo Sebreghts had been assigned to meet with V. K. Bukovsky. The Flemish committee had given Sebreghts Bukovsky's phone number, which Sebreghts had dutifully noted in his writing pad. At their meeting in V. N. Chalidze's apartment, Bukovsky passed to Sebreghts two anti-Soviet documents of a slanderous nature — Chronicle of Current Events, number 17 and "Open Letter to the Twenty-fourth Party Congress" by P. Yakir, which was later confiscated from Sebreghts at the time of a search.
Proof of these charges is: the conclusion of criminal experts, confirming that the documents taken from Sebreghts and documents with analogous content taken from Bukovsky's apartment during a search were typed on one and the same typewriter; the testimony of Sebreghts given during the preliminary investigation.
V. K. Bukovsky is guilty of having carried out criminal activity under Statute 70, Part I, of the RSFSR Criminal Code.
The court, upon passing sentence has taken into account that V. K. Bukovsky, after having served a term (three years in a labor camp) for an earlier conviction under Statute 190-3 of the RSFSR Criminal Code, continued his criminal activities despite repeated warnings from the prosecutor's office. The court also notes that during the course of the investigation, V. K. Bukovsky acted defiantly, refusing to cooperate with the investigation, and neither in the preliminary investigation nor in court did he acknowledge his guilt.
In the name of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky, born 1942 . . . is sentenced to: seven years imprisonment, with the first two years to be spent in prison and the last five in a corrective labor colony; with this sentence followed by five years in exile. The court also orders Bukovsky to pay the court expenses in the sum of 100 rubles.