Vladimir Bukovsky is a popular domestic writer. A well-known public and political figure, it is he who is considered one of the founders of the dissident movement. In total, he was forced to spend 12 years on compulsory treatment and in prisons. In 1976, the USSR exchanged him for the Chilean communist Luis Corvalan. Bukovsky went to the UK.
Childhood and youth
Vladimir Bukovsky was born in 1942. He was born in an evacuation in the city of Belebey, in Bashkiria. His father was a famous Soviet journalist and writer, his name was Konstantin Ivanovich. True, he did not live in the family, so the hero of our article was raised by one mother.
He studied in Moscow, where the family returned after the war. According to him, he became a dissident when he heard Khrushchev’s report on Stalin’s crimes. The first conflict between Vladimir Bukovsky and the authorities occurred in 1959, when he was expelled from school for publishing a manuscript magazine. He received a diploma of secondary education in evening school.
Mayakovka
In 1960, he became the organizer of regular youth meetings at the Mayakovsky monument in Moscow, along with poet and dissident Yuri Galanskov and human rights activist Eduard Kuznetsov. Of the Mayakovka activists, Vladimir Bukovsky was the youngest; he was only 18 years old. The participants in these meetings were persecuted by the police, after one of the searches in the apartment of the hero of our article, his essay on the need to democratize the Komsomol was seized. By that time, Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky was already studying at the Moscow University at the Faculty of Biology and Soil. He was not allowed to exams and expelled.
In 1962, the famous Soviet psychiatrist Andrei Snezhnevsky diagnosed Bukovsky with "sluggish schizophrenia." It is noteworthy that this diagnosis was not recognized in world psychiatry, but was widely used in Soviet times against dissidents and people who were objectionable to the authorities. Years later, Western doctors recognized the writer as mentally healthy.
In 1962, it became possible to institute criminal proceedings against Mayakovka activists. Upon learning of this, Bukovsky went on a geological expedition to Siberia.
First arrests
For the first time, Vladimir Bukovsky, whose biography is given in this article, was arrested in 1963. The reason was his production of two photocopies of the book of the Yugoslav dissident Milovan Jilas, entitled "The New Class", which was banned in the USSR.
Recognizing insane, he was sent to a mental hospital for compulsory treatment. There Bukovsky met the disgraced Major General Pyotr Grigorenko, who found himself there for criticizing the Soviet leadership.
In early 1965, Bukovsky was released. But in December he took part in the preparation of the so-called publicity rally, which was planned to be held in defense of Yuri Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky. For this, he was again detained and placed in a psychiatric hospital in Lyubertsy. Then he spent eight months at the Serbsky Institute. Soviet experts could not decide whether he was sick or healthy, opinions were divided.
At this time, a large-scale campaign was launched in the West in support of Vladimir Bukovsky, whose photo you will find in this article. A representative of the international organization Amnesty International at the end of the summer of 1966 was able to secure his release.
Prison term
Bukovsky did not leave the protest activity. Already in January 1967, he was detained on Pushkin Square during a demonstration of opponents of the arrest of Yuri Galanskov and Alexander Ginzburg.
The commission found him mentally healthy, but he was convicted of participating in group activities that violate public order. Bukovsky refused to plead guilty, moreover, he delivered a diatribe, which became popular in samizdat. The court sentenced him to three years in camps.
The hero of our article, having served his term, returned to Moscow in 1970. Almost immediately, he became the leader of the dissident movement, which was formed during his absence. In an interview with Western journalists, he talked about political prisoners who are exposed to punitive psychiatry. It was he who first openly spoke about punitive medicine in the USSR.
Punitive Psychiatry
At that time, Bukovsky was openly watched, warning that he would be prosecuted if he did not stop spreading about the violation of human rights in the Soviet Union. Instead of falling to the bottom, Bukovsky sent a detailed letter to Western psychiatrists with evidence of abuse of psychiatry for political purposes. Based on these documents, British doctors concluded that the diagnoses of all 6 dissidents referred to in Bukovsky’s letter were made for political reasons.
In March 1971, Bukovsky was arrested for the fourth time. On the eve of the newspaper Pravda, he was accused of anti-Soviet activity. Then the whole country found out about Bukovsky.
In January 1972, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for propaganda and anti-Soviet agitation. He was supposed to spend the first two years in prison, and the rest in exile. Bukovsky was placed in Vladimir prison, and from there transferred to a colony in Perm. In conclusion, Bukovsky wrote the book "A Handbook of Psychiatry for Dissenters" along with psychiatrist Semyon Gluzman, who was serving a sentence for distributing in the samizdat an examination of General Grigorenko, confirming his mental health.
Exchange of political prisoners
From exile, Bukovsky was returned to prison for regular violations of the regime. A large-scale international campaign was launched in his support. As a result, in December 1976 he was exchanged for the Chilean political prisoner Luis Corvalan in Zurich, Switzerland. Bukovsky was brought there by the Alpha special group.
Soon after the hero of our article was expelled, American President Carter accepted. Bukovsky himself settled in England. He received a Cambridge University diploma in neurophysiology. In 1978, Vladimir Bukovsky’s book, “And the Wind Returns,” dedicated to memories of life in the USSR, was published.
Political activity
However, he continued to actively engage in politics. He was one of the organizers of the boycott campaign for the Olympics in Moscow in 1980.
In 1983, he took part in the creation of an anti-communist organization called the International of Resistance, and even became its president. He protested against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.
In the spring of 1991, at the invitation of Boris Yeltsin, he visited Moscow. He took part in the process in the Constitutional Court "CPSU against Yeltsin." Bukovsky gained access to classified documents, some of which he managed to scan and publish. The collected materials were included in the book of Vladimir Bukovsky "Moscow Process".
In 1992, he was even nominated for mayor of Moscow, but he recused himself. Despite the fact that Yeltsin opposed communism, Bukovsky fiercely criticized him. In particular, he tried to renounce Russian citizenship, which was granted to him, like other dissidents, believing that the draft Yeltsin constitution was too authoritarian. At the same time, in October 1993, he supported the dispersal of the Supreme Council, saying that Yeltsin’s actions were justified.
Literary Studies
Among the books of Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky, the letters of the Russian traveler, which were written in 1980, should be highlighted. In them, he describes his impressions of life in the West, comparing them with Soviet reality. In Russia, the book was first published in 2008.
He also owns the study “On the Edge. Russia's Tough Choice”, in which he asks questions about what the Putin empire is and what the country will have in the near future. It was released in 2015. Also published were his works "The heirs of Lorenz Beria. Putin and his team" and "Putin's Secret Empire. Will there be a" palace coup? "
Meeting with Nemtsov
In 2002, Boris Nemtsov, one of the leaders of the Russian opposition, met with Bukovsky in Cambridge, who at that time headed the SPS party in the State Duma. The Soviet dissident advised him to go into radical opposition to the existing government.
In 2004, he became one of the founders of a socio-political organization known as the Committee of 2008: Free Choice. It also included Boris Nemtsov, Garry Kasparov, Eugene Kiselev, Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr.
Presidential election
In 2007, he announced his nomination for president of the Russian Federation from the democratic opposition. The initiative group that nominated Bukovsky included well-known Russian public figures and politicians. In December, 823 signatures were collected, with the necessary five hundred, for registration of a candidate by the Central Election Commission.
However, the CEC rejected his application, citing the fact that Bukovsky has been living outside Russia for the past ten years, which contradicts the electoral law. Moreover, he did not submit documents confirming his occupation. The decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the CEC.
In 2010, the hero of our article signed the appeal of the Russian opposition "Putin must leave."
Personal life
About personal life, Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky does not like to spread. It is only known that his wife, son and mother were taken out of the USSR with him during an exchange for Corvalan on the same plane. Only sat in a separate compartment.
Now the family of Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky is under close public scrutiny after accusations of the ex-dissident himself in possession of pornographic materials with minors. It was nominated in the fall of 2014. Bukovsky himself denies all allegations, claiming that he collected materials, being interested in the topic of censorship on the Internet.
About twenty thousand photographs and a lot of obscene videos involving minors, including kids, were found on the political activist’s personal computer. At the same time, Bukovsky himself insisted that he downloaded the images if the child was at least 6-7 years old in appearance.
Seeking to clear the charges, he went on a hunger strike, accused the British prosecutor of libel, but this did not bring any result. The proceedings continue for several years, they are constantly postponed due to the suspect’s state of health. He is now 75 years old. He had already had a heart operation, in a German clinic the writer was replaced with two valves, after which his condition stabilized.