Alexander Ioilyevich Ogorodnikov | |
|---|---|
| Александр Иоильевич Огородников | |
 Alexander Ogorodnikov | |
| Born | (1950-05-26)May 26, 1950 (age 75) |
| Citizenship |  Soviet Union (1950–1991) → Russian Federation (1991–present) |
| Known for | human rights activism |
| Movement | dissident movement in the Soviet Union |
Alexander Ioilyevich Ogorodnikov (Russian:Алекса́ндр Иои́льевич Огоро́дников, born 26 May 1950,Chistopol,Tatar ASSR) is a formerchairman of the Russian Orthodox Argentov Seminar,peace activist, political prisoner and founder of severalRussianhumanitarian organizations.
Alexander Ogorodnikov was jailed during one of the Soviet Union’s most aggressive crackdowns on religious activity since theStalinist era. The repressive policies ofStalin had been lightened byKhrushchev,[1] but during the 1970s the communist government reinforced its policy of using the state to rid society of religious influence.[2]
His father was a member of theCommunist Party, while his grandmother had him secretlybaptized.[3] Alexander was singled out because his convictions defied Soviet “scientific” doctrine on the eradication of religious belief: anyone educated in the Soviet schools or in communism but remaining religious was deemedmentally ill, and Alexander converted after receiving his communisteducation in Soviet schools.
In 1974, as aRussian Orthodox Neophyte, Alexander founded a philosophical society with a religious basis. Alexander had been agraduate student at the University of the Urals inSverdlovsk, and was expelled for attempting to make a film about religious life.[3] In 1976, at the age of 25, Alexander was jailed in apsikhushka, an institution that in the West would be jokingly referred to as ahospital “for thecriminally insane,” and he receivedneuroleptics. The legal basis for Alexander’s confinement was that his religious conviction was amental disorder, due to its beginning and persistence coming after his education. Public protest forced the Soviet authorities to release him.[4]
Alexander was again jailed from 1978 until 1987, when he was released by Gorbachev under theGlasnost.[3] Shortly after the fall of communism Alexander returned toMoscow in 1995 and set up the Christian Democratic Union of Russia and the Christian Mercy Society. In 1995 Alexander started what was among other things adrug treatment facility, the Island of Hope.[3]
In 1999 Alexander was interviewed following a Russian OrthodoxLiturgy inAmsterdam, Netherlands, describing in detail life in a Soviet Gulag, specifically Perm 36, near theSiberian border where he had been jailed.[3]
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