Vladimir Bukovsky: biography, books, personal life and family

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Vladimir Bukovsky is a popular domestic writer. A well-known public and political figure, he is considered one of the founders of the dissident movement. In total, he was forced to spend 12 years in compulsory treatment and in prisons. In 1976, the USSR exchanged him for the Chilean communist Luis Corvalan. Bukovsky left for 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 a family, so the hero of our article was raised by one mother.

Studied in Moscow, where the family returned after the end of 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 already in 1959, when he was expelled from school for publishing a handwritten journal. Received a diploma of secondary education already in the eveningschool.

Mayakovka

In 1960, he became the organizer of regular youth meetings at the Mayakovsky monument in Moscow, together with the 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 pursued 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 confiscated. By that time, Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky was already studying at the Faculty of Biology and Soil at Moscow University. He was not allowed to take exams and was expelled.

In 1962, the famous Soviet psychiatrist Andrey Snezhnevsky diagnosed Bukovsky with sluggish schizophrenia. It is noteworthy that this diagnosis is not recognized in world psychiatry, but was widely used in Soviet times against dissidents and people objectionable to the authorities. Years later, Western doctors recognized the writer as mentally he althy.

In 1962, it became possible to initiate a criminal case 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 that he made two photocopies of a book by the Yugoslav dissident Milovan Djilas called "The New Class", which was banned in the USSR.

Recognizing insane, he was sent tomental hospital for compulsory treatment. There, Bukovsky met the disgraced Major General Pyotr Grigorenko, who ended up there for criticizing the Soviet leadership.

In early 1965, Bukovsky was released. But already in December, he took part in the preparation of the so-called glasnost 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 well, opinions were divided.

At that 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.

Jail Term

Bukovsky did not leave protest activities. Already in January 1967, he was detained on Pushkinskaya Square during a demonstration of opponents of the arrest of Yuri Galanskov and Alexander Ginzburg.

The commission recognized him as mentally he althy, but he was convicted of participating in group activities that violate public order. Bukovsky refused to plead guilty; moreover, he delivered a diatribe that became popular in samizdat. The court sentenced him to three years in the camps.

The hero of our article, having served time, returned to Moscow in 1970. Almost immediately he became a leaderdissident movement that had 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 spoke openly about punitive medicine in the USSR.

Punitive Psychiatry

At that time, Bukovsky was openly followed, warning that he would be prosecuted if he did not stop spreading about the violation of human rights in the Soviet Union. Instead of laying low, Bukovsky sent a detailed letter to Western psychiatrists in 1971 with evidence of the abuse of psychiatry for political purposes. Based on these documents, British doctors came to the conclusion that the diagnoses of all 6 dissidents mentioned in Bukovsky's letter were made for political reasons.

In March 1971, Bukovsky was arrested for the fourth time. On the eve of the pages of the newspaper "Pravda" he was accused of anti-Soviet activities. 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. The first two years he had to spend in prison, and the rest - in exile. Bukovsky was placed in the Vladimir prison, and from there he was transferred to a colony in Perm. In conclusion, Bukovsky wrote the book "A Handbook on Psychiatry for Dissenters" together with psychiatrist Semyon Gluzman, who was serving a term for distributing General Grigorenko's examination in samizdat, confirming his mentalhe alth.

Political prisoner exchange

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.

Shortly after the expulsion of the hero of our article, the American President Carter received him. Bukovsky himself settled in England. He received a diploma from the University of Cambridge in neurophysiology. In 1978, Vladimir Bukovsky's book "And the Wind Returns" was published, dedicated to memories of life in the USSR.

Political activities

At the same time, he continued to actively engage in politics. He was one of the organizers of the campaign to boycott the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

In 1983, he took part in the creation of an anti-communist organization called the Resistance International, even became its president. 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 secret documents, some of which he managed to scan and publish. The materials collected were included in Vladimir Bukovsky's book "The Moscow Trial".

In 1992, he was even nominated for the post of mayor of Moscow, but he recused himself. Although Yeltsin opposedCommunism, Bukovsky fiercely criticized him. In particular, he tried to renounce Russian citizenship, which was granted to him, as well as to other dissidents, believing that the Yeltsin draft constitution was too authoritarian. At the same time, in October 1993, he supported the dispersal of the Supreme Council, stating that Yeltsin's actions were justified.

Literary Studies

Among the books of Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky, it is necessary to single out "Letters from a Russian Traveler", which were written in 1980. In them, he describes his impressions of life in the West, comparing them with Soviet reality. The book was first published in Russia in 2008.

He also owns the study "On the edge. Russia's hard choice", in which he asks questions about what constitutes Putin's empire and what awaits the country in the near future. It was released in 2015. His works "The heirs of Lavrenty Beria. Putin and his team" and "Putin's secret empire. Will there be a" palace coup "?".

Meeting with Nemtsov

In 2002, one of the leaders of the Russian opposition, Boris Nemtsov, who at that time headed the SPS party in the State Duma, met with Bukovsky in Cambridge. A Soviet dissident advised him to go into radical opposition to the existing government.

In 2004, he co-founded a socio-political organization known as "Committee 2008: Free Choice". It also included BorisNemtsov, Garry Kasparov, Evgeny Kiselev, Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr.

Participation in presidential elections

In 2007, he announced his nomination for the presidency 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 required five hundred, for the registration of a candidate by the Central Election Commission.

However, the CEC rejected his application, citing the fact that Bukovsky has been living outside of Russia for the past ten years, which is contrary to the electoral law. In addition, he did not provide documents confirming his occupation. The decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which confirmed the correctness of the CEC.

In 2010, the hero of our article signed the appeal of the Russian opposition "Putin must go".

Private life

About his 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 the exchange for Corvalan on the same plane. They just sat in a separate compartment.

Now the family of Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky is under close public scrutiny after accusations of the ex-dissident himself of possessing pornographic materials with minors. It was launched in autumn 2014. Bukovsky himself denies all accusations, saying that he collected materials, being interested in the topic of censorship on the Internet.

On the political activist's personal computer, about twenty thousand photographs and many obscene videos involving minors, including children, were found. At the same time, Bukovsky himself insisted that he downloaded the images if the child was at least 6-7 years old in appearance.

In an effort to drop the charges, he went on a hunger strike, accused the British prosecutor's office of slander, but this did not bring any result. Proceedings have been going on for several years, they are constantly postponed due to the state of he alth of the suspect. Now he is 75 years old. He had already undergone heart surgery, in a German clinic the writer had two valves replaced, after which his condition stabilized.