Alexander P. Lavut | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1929-07-04)July 4, 1929 |
| Died | June 23, 2013(2013-06-23) (aged 83) |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Occupation | mathematician |
| Known for | human rights activist,dissident |
| Criminal charge | Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (Article 190-1 of the RSFSR Criminal Code) |
| Criminal penalty | Three years in corrective-labour camps; three years' internal exile. |
| Spouse | Sima Mostinskaya |
Alexander Pavlovich Lavut (Russian:Алекса́ндр Па́влович Лаву́т; 4 July 1929 – 23 June 2013) was amathematician,dissident and a key figure in the civil rights movement in theSoviet Union.
Alexander Lavut was born on 4 July 1929, the son of entrepreneur Pavel Ilyich Lavut (1898–1979), an ebullient figure on the cultural scene of the Soviet 1920s, mentioned in the works ofVladimir Mayakovsky ("that soft-spoken Jew Lavut").
Alexander graduated in 1951 from the Mechanics and Mathematics faculty ofMoscow State University. After graduation, he taught at secondary schools in the city, and inKazakhstan. In 1966–1969, he worked at the Laboratory of Mathematical Geology atMoscow State University.[1][2]
In 1968, like dozens of others, Lavut added his name to an open letter[3] in defense of the poetAlexander Ginzburg. Ginzburg had been arrested as one of the compilers, withYuri Galanskov, of theWhite Book documentingthe trial of writersAndrei Sinyavsky andYuli Daniel.
In May 1969 Lavut joined theAction Group for the Defense of Human Rights, the first such organization in Soviet history. Together with other members, he signed an open letter to theUN Human Rights Commission.[4] He lost his job in November that year. Of Lavut's 14 co-signatories, ten would be arrested later and imprisoned.[2]
Lavut also worked for thesamizdat periodicalAChronicle of Current Events. Founded in April 1968, theChronicle ran until 1983, producing 65 issues in 14 years.[5] It documented the extensive human rights violations committed by the Soviet government and the ever-expanding samizdat publications (political tracts, fiction, translations) circulating among the critical and opposition-minded. Each issue was produced as a few dozen typewritten copies, passed on to friends and then replicated in the manner of a chain-letter.
After chief editorSergei Kovalev was arrested in 1975 and imprisoned for his work on theChronicle, Lavut became one of the principal editors, both as a contributor and in compiling and finalising the contents of many issues. This continued until his own arrest in 1980.[2][6][7]
Lavut was particularly active in campaigning on behalf of theCrimean Tatars, an ethnic group forcibly exiled to Central Asia under Stalin in 1944 and not permitted to return once the Soviet dictator was dead. After their championPyotr Grigorenko was expelled from the USSR in 1977, Lavut became one of their main contacts in Moscow. He had already dedicated one entire issue of theChronicle to their cause.[1][8]
On 29 April 1980, Lavut was arrested and charged withAnti-Soviet agitation under Article 190-1 of the RSFSR Criminal Code: "the dissemination of knowingly false fabrications discrediting the Soviet social and political system". The prosecution argued that Lavut "participated in the discussion, production, signing and distribution on the territory of theUSSR and abroad of knowingly false fabrications ... about alleged violations of civil rights, of theuse of psychiatry for political ends." He was also accused of possessing and distributing copies ofThe Gulag Archipelago byAleksandr Solzhenitsyn.[1][2][9]
During his trial at the Moscow People's Court, Lavut admitted distributing material but claimed that his actions fell within the remit of the law. The trial became the subject of a memorandum by the dissident human rights organizationMoscow Helsinki Group;Andrei Sakharov included Lavut's name in an open appeal to colleagues.[2][10]
Convicted and sentenced to the maximum term under Article 190-1 of three years in a labour camp[11] Lavut was held for some time inButyrka prison (Moscow), before being sent to a camp in theKhabarovsk Region (Soviet Far East). When his initial sentence ended in April 1983,[12] he was not released, but given a further three-year term of internal exile. In 1986 Lavut refused to sign a statement agreeing to cease all political activity (cfTatyana Velikanova).
On completion of his term of exile Lavut was able to return to Moscow but not allowed to travel abroad.[2] He resumed work as aprogrammer, this time at the Central Geophysical Expedition. In 1988, Andrei Sakharov succeeded in obtaining official permission for Lavut to join a Soviet-American commission on civil and political rights and go to Washington.[2]
Lavut became involved in a variety of initiatives that were now possible under Gorbachev's regime, although keeping always in the background.[13]
He helpedSergei Kovalyov in his successful bid to enter the Soviet parliament. He joinedMemorial, and served on its board. AfterAndrei Sakharov died in December 1989 he became a member of thePublic Committee for the Preservation of Legacy of Andrei Sakharov, which led to the creation of the Sakharov Museum and Center in Moscow.
An opponent of Yeltsin'sFirst Chechen War (1994–1996), Lavut was briefly detained in December 1994 during an unsanctionedpicket of the presidential administration in Moscow's Old Square (Staraya ploshchad). In May the following year he joined an observer mission to the Chechen conflict zone sent by several human rightsNGOs.[2]
Lavut died on 23 June 2013. In an obituary noticeAlexander Podrabinek commented on his courage, modesty and compassion for others.[14]
"Alexander Lavut was a member of the Action Group for the Defence of Human Rights, the first organisation in the USSR to openly defend such rights, yet he never boasted about having belonged to the oldest organisation of its kind in Russia.
"Lavut was among the editors of the legendaryChronicle of Current Events (1968–1983) but never regarded this worthy of mention.
"Twice convicted and imprisoned, he served consecutive sentences from 1980 to 1986, but never sought leniency or petitioned for a pardon. A model of irreproachable behaviour as a dissident, Alexander Lavut never criticised those who could not attain the same standard."
This view was shared and expressed in other obituaries, but especially in that signed by all the board members of Memorial.[15]
Lavut was survived by his wife Sima Mostinskaya and their daughter in the USA. A second child committed suicide in the 1970s.[16]
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