Malva Landa | |
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Мальва Ноївна Ланда | |
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| Born | (1918-08-14)14 August 1918 |
| Died | 3 July 2019(2019-07-03) (aged 100) |
| Occupation(s) | Human rights activist,geologist |
Malva Noyivna Landa[a] (14 August 1918 – 3 July 2019) was aUkrainian-bornSoviet-Russiandissident, publicist, and geologist. She was the author of multiple articles about human rights, the translator of number of humanitarian essays fromEnglish toRussian, and a veteran of thehuman rights movement in the Soviet Union, being a member of theMoscow Helsinki Group from its founding in 1976.[1] She received the Officer of theOrder of the Cross of Vytis (Lithuania, 8 January 2003).[2]
Malva Noyivna Landa was born inOdesa, in what was then theUkrainian State, amidstWorld War I and theRussian Civil War. Landa's family wasJewish. Her mother was a high school teacher, and her father was a professor of animal husbandry at a veterinary institute. In the autumn of 1932, her father was imprisoned and tortured in the jail ofStalingrad, and in 1938, he was executed.[3] From 1940 to 1945, she studied at the Moscow Geological Prospecting Sergo Ordzhonikidze Institute (now theRussian State Geological Prospecting University).[4] In the 1950s, she worked as a head of geological surveying party Karatau Expedition MGRI.
Landa was a founding member of theMoscow Helsinki Group, which campaigned for the Soviet Unions to abide by its human rights commitments under the 1975Helsinki Accords. She made the statement that the Soviet socialist system may not respect human rights and, accordingly, was not in compliance with the provisions of the Helsinki Accords. She joined the Helsinki Group to more effectively expose the situation of human rights in the Soviet Union. The group was mainly involved in the issue of political prisoners.[5]
On 26 March 1980, Landa was sentenced to five years exile under article 190-1 of the Russian SFSR criminal code, which banned the dissemination of false fabrications defaming the Soviet state and social system. She served time in the village of Dzhezdy, Dzhezkazgan Region inKazakhstan. She remained in the Helsinki Group and returned from exile in 1984.[1]
Following thedissolution of the Soviet Union, Landa continued to participate in political activities in Russia, particularly criticising theChechen–Russian conflict andPresidentVladimir Putin. In March 2010, she signeda petition advocating for Putin's removal from office.[6]
In 2015, aged 97, Landa moved toIsrael, where she lived with her son and daughter-in-law inHaifa.[7] She died there on 3 July 2019.[1]
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