The Crime of Chernobyl- The Nuclear Gulag

by Wladimir Tchertkoff

  He doesn’t want to know anything about the outside world, which he will not see in the near future, he says. “If I let myself go, it’s very hard to get back to the reality of my cell. It’s better not to know anything about the outside world”.

  Galina did not say everything in this letter. She has given her permission for me to transmit the essential content of our telephone conversation.

  I talked to her for a long time after I had read it and, on the basis of what she told me in more detail, we were able to modify somewhat the very dark picture that she had painted about her husband’s psychological state. In replying to my questions and remembering other moments during their meeting, she saw that the situation was perhaps not quite as catastrophic as she had first described.

  6. THE TRANSFORMATION OF YURY BANDAZHEVSKY

  Psychologically, Yury has suffered and continues to suffer, but his suffering could be purifying. His scientific mind is still functioning and this period in prison, his sudden fall that precipitated him from “fame” into humiliation, shattered his outer shell, the social side of his personality, forcing him into a painful examination of himself. He meditates on his life and radically questions everything about what he was before this traumatic event. The change is so far reaching that Galina, accustomed to the man he was before, was frightened. She is discovering a new man, a man she does not recognise and whose new reference points, like his religion, are strange to her. I told her not to be frightened because, given the situation he is in, it is a good development; it helps him to hold out without losing his sense of self.

  One night, sitting opposite each other on stools, while his elderly mother and his youngest daughter slept, he spoke at length to Galina, who listened to him for a long time, in a low voice from the heart. He told her that he had made a decision to get hold of himself, to make amends, to rid himself of everything that he perceived now as intolerable in himself. He made harsh judgements about his egocentric, proud, authoritarian character, which had affected his family for all these years, subordinating them to his needs as a scientist and as rector of the institute. He repented to her: “I was full of pride, I always put me me me in first place”. Yury wants to rely on all that is good in his character to develop an honest relationship with himself and with Galina. He told her that this nocturnal conversation had returned him to his real self.

  Even though he is closed up and isolated from everyone, Yury’s mind remains clear. He was very pleased to receive photocopies of certain scientific articles that had been sent from Paris recently.

  The only real worry is his health, because his diet is poor and he eats very little of it. The fact that he lives completely alone, day and night, in a mental state that was unrecognisable to Galina, worried her. She fears a reckless, hasty gesture when there is no-one to witness it. Even though Yury has told her that killing oneself is a great sin and that he would never do it.

  A recent piece of news that needs to be treated with a great deal of suspicion:

  The political Friend informed Yury that the documents needed for his release were ready: “We are waiting for President Lukashenko’s signature. If it fails, I will let you know”. But, in the meantime, given that Yury could end up disappointed again, why have they left him alone in his cell?

  31st MARCH 2003

  VISIT FROM THE LAWYER BARANOV

  Last Monday, 31st March, the lawyer, Baranov, spent an hour and a half with Bandazhevsky. Baranov confirms the observations made by Galina when she saw him two weeks before. He found the prisoner thinner, weak and completely changed. He really seems to have emerged from the psychological fog of the last few months. According to Baranov, he is in complete control intellectually of the situation in which he finds himself and has a clear understanding of what is at stake. The lawyer, who himself often speaks in a veiled and reticent manner, told Galina that Yury knows and understands a great deal more now about the various plots going on around him than he did on previous visits. Yury asked him, and also asked his wife in a letter, to express his gratitude to those who are supporting him in the West, not just for their support, which helps him and protects him, but for “their accurate assessment of the errors that have been made since last summer, and the interpretation they have given of the reasons for the repression to which he is being subjected”.

  It seems that the regime, which is keeping Bandazhevsky in prison, is focusing even more attention on his qualifications, his research and his knowledge. Recently, he was given a language test to establish his level of competence in French and English. The correspondence he receives from his wife and from abroad (mostly in French, the language he knows best) takes a long time to arrive sometimes and is often crumpled and dirty as if it has been handled by several people. An official from the sentencing board was sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking him for a list of his latest work197, published in the period between his two arrests.

  197 The titles of his most recent work are as follows: Medico-biological effects of radioactive caesium incorporated into the body, Minsk, 2000. 70 p.; Radioactive caesium and the Heart: Pathophysiological Aspects, Minsk, 2001. 63p. ; The role of radioactive caesium in the pathology of the thyroid gland, PSR-IPPNW Switzerland, 2001; Radiocaesium and the intrauterine development of the foetus, Minsk, 2001, 59 p.; Pathological processes in the organism in the presence of incorporated radionuclides, Minsk, 2002, 130 p.

  People in positions of responsibility in the political and scientific domain, both in Belarus and in the West, take shelter behind the official omerta, and it is not in their interests for Bandazhevsky to take up his scientific research again too soon.

  19th APRIL 2003

  Yesterday, Galina Bandazhevskaya was invited to the French Embassy. The European Union must have exerted a lot of pressure on the Belarus authorities if the ambassadors of France and Germany were allowed to visit Bandazhevsky in prison (9th April). An ultimatum must have been given by the EU to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Khvostov, stating that if they were refused, they would make public the intransigent attitude of the government in this affair. This had an effect, probably because of the softening of relations between Belarus and Europe. (Other official requests from Europeans to visit Yury were initially granted and then refused on the pretext that it would remove Galina’s visiting rights, which were strictly regulated by law).

  The meeting with Yury and the ambassadors lasted an hour and took place in the presence of the prison governor and the director of the sentencing board. Yury was very happy and encouraged by the visit. He has already written to his wife saying that it is a long time since he has enjoyed eating or had such a good appetite as after this meeting. The interview inevitably was constrained by the presence of the governor and director. The ambassadors noticed that Yury seemed to be experiencing some problems with his speech, as if he had taken sleeping pills. Galina confirmed that he takes a lot of tranquillisers. They found him pale and thin—not looking very good.

  The director of the sentencing board said that Yury could be relegated in June 2004, unless in the meantime there was a general amnesty that reduced his sentence by a further year, (in which case it would be January). Galina does not think that Europe will have much influence in this process. The fact that they gave an ultimatum that resulted in a formal visit was of great comfort to Yury, but it is hardly a victory for European law. Yesterday, or the day before, the UN Commission on Human Rights voted unanimously on a resolution noting that human rights are not being respected in Belarus.

  15th JULY 2003

  Yury is on his own again, having recently shared his cell with a young man serving a sentence for commercial malpractice, whose company was preferable to the murderer. The guards systematically separate and divide up groups as soon as any relationship is established, but Bandazhevsky, who has started work again, does not complain because, in any case, intellectual conversation is minimal and does not satisfy him. “Bandazh
evsky is a brilliant scientist whose only crime is to reveal the lesser known, but nonetheless fatal, effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. His intellectual powers are mouldering away in a prison cell in Kalvarijskaia Street in Minsk. Had he been born in a free country, his life would have been celebrated as a gift to humanity”. This article, with its slightly rose tinted view of the free world, appeared in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on June 28th last year. Bandazhevsky is not complaining about being alone at present because he has started work again, after a period of months in a state of illusion and mystical hope. He is grateful to the French ambassador who made him a gift of some beautiful books; the lives of famous men and valuable scientific works. Yury is doing a lot of writing and reading. At the moment he is studying the pathogenesis of the illnesses caused by caesium-137.

  7. PROVOCATION OF A PRESIDENTIAL PARDON

  23rd AUGUST 2003

  A number of things have come together that make us think that we might soon have news of Professor Bandazhevsky’s release. On 8th August, the Chamber of Representatives at the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus wrote to the Bandazhevsky Support Committee in Grenoble inviting the prisoner, to repeat to President Lukashenko his previous request for pardon, that was refused in October 2001.

  In July 2003, a group of Deputies from the Chamber of Representatives at the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus wrote to the President of the Republic of Belarus asking him to pardon Y.I. Bandazhevsky.

  The President is considering the possibility of examining the question of a pardon for Y.I. Bandazhevsky a second time, if the latter submits his request in the required form.

  Vice-President of the Commission, A.V. Svirid

  Bandazhevsky does not recognise his guilt and has never asked for his pardon. While protesting his innocence of the crime of which he was accused he asked Lukashenko to free him as an act of humanity in order that he might pursue his scientific research.

  On Friday, 22nd August, on Nesterenko’s advice, Galina Bandazhevskaya went to see the director of the sentencing board. The commission and the prison governing board already knew about the response from the Chamber of Representatives, had told Yury about it and had advised him to write his letter of request. The director of the sentencing board told Galina that the day Bandazhevsky left them they would feel enormous relief. His case, which is now the subject of debate at governmental level within Europe, at the Parliament in Strasbourg, at Amnesty International, within various humanitarian organisations and now at the Belarusian parliament, was making them lose sleep and preventing the smooth running of the prison: “As far as we are concerned, we will do everything to ensure a positive outcome”, they assured her.

  In the visiting room, Yury told Galina that they had been nagging him for several days to get his letter written. The prison governing board is meeting next Thursday, on 28th August, to conduct a kind of internal court case to examine the behaviour, motives and content of the detainee’s request, and their comments will be communicated to the sentencing board. And the sentencing board, in its turn, will write to the President’s office. But they need Yury’s request, and it still hasn’t arrived! They are getting nervous. It’s a curious reversal of roles.

  Yury explained to Galina that the whole humiliating pantomime would get them nowhere. Against the background of injustice, insincerity and stupidity in which he has been immersed for the four years of his incarceration, his brain can no longer formulate the words to make this request. In the two hours they spent together, Galina provided him with a few acceptable phrases. “If you want to understand why I am innocent, please take the trouble to re-read the notes from the trial, in which there were at least eight violations of the penal code and of legal procedures, and was not able to bring any proof of my guilt. I am asking President Lukashenko to use his power of pardon to free the innocent scientist that I am, so that I can continue to be of use to my country”. At the end Yury thanked Galina for having helped him to make the decision. “In any case, you have nothing to lose”, she told him. He will write his letter at the weekend and attend his “trial” on Thursday.

  Zinaida Gonchar, the wife of one of Lukashenko’s “disappeared” opponents, advises Galina not to expect too much. In her opinion, the letter from the Chamber of Representatives is just a standard reply which will have no consequences. There have been precedents. Everyone speaks his lines in this theatre of the absurd, but in the end, it is Lukashenko who makes whatever decision he sees fit. Galina confides to me that she only half believes it.

  Bandazhevsky has finally written his request. The delay means he has missed the commission which only meets once a month. But they hurried to his cell to fetch the letter and reconvened the committee outside the normal time frame. It is clear that this initiative has been greatly encouraged from above.

  23rd SEPTEMBER 2003

  THE PRISON DIRECTOR PUSHES BANDAZHEVSKY’S REQUEST FOR A PARDON

  On 22nd September, Galina brought some medicines to the prison and had an interview with the director, who introduced her to the doctor who is looking after Yury. During the night of Monday 8th, Yury had a serious heart attack: severe pain with shooting pains in the arm and in the back, difficulty breathing, blue lips, grey complexion.

  It was a good meeting between colleagues, open and humane. The doctor reassured Galina. For the moment, nothing catastrophic has happened. In his opinion his state of health can be explained by the deep and continuing depression he suffers in prison and the excitement over the past few weeks about his case. I have copied the words of the doctor, as I noted them down when Galina told me about the meeting. “A man of his intelligence, with no social relationships other than with the other prisoners, is a man who lacks air to breathe. He is suffering from depression. And with depression anything is possible. He has also been given a psycho-neurological examination and we are helping him with this side of things too. The medicines that you bring him will help him. But the best medicine will be his release from prison. As soon as he leaves prison, these symptoms will disappear. And while we’re on the subject, the papers have been sent off. I have to tell you that, during my time at this prison, this is the first time I have seen the governing body making efforts to help a prisoner’s request and asking for his release. Try not to worry, we know the professor, we know all about it and we understand it all. We have his best interests at heart. Take care of your own state of mind, because everything depends on you. We will do everything we can to help him”.

  It is quite surprising. It is true that this was the first time she has ever spoken to this fellow doctor. Up till now, she has only spoken to the guards, who are part of the military and adhere strictly to the regulations.

  Whatever the personality of the new prison governor, who seems more humane than the last, he is also a member of the military and it is difficult to believe that he could bend the rules let alone break them. He was pushing for Yury’s release even though Yury has not admitted guilt. Galina is aware of a change, which can only be explained by a political decision from “above”. This decision has allowed people lower down the hierarchy (the governor, the doctor…), to express their opinions about the case and their feelings towards the prisoner more freely. Let’s see what happens next.

  THURSDAY 2nd OCTOBER

  YURY BANDAZHEVSKY UNDERGOES A DELICATE OPERATION IN PRISON

  On Saturday 4th October, at 9 o’clock in the evening, Galina Bandazhevskaya receives two telephone calls from relatives of detainees saying that her husband has undergone a delicate operation, that he was in a very poor state and that he needed to be transferred to a good hospital urgently, “if not you might lose him”. They could not tell her when the operation had taken place or the reason for it. Over the weekend, no contact was possible with the prison.

  Galina was only able to talk to the prison governor and to the chief surgeon on Monday 6th October at midday. At one o’clock, she was allow
ed to see Yury face to face, not on the telephone and not through a glass partition, but only after she threatened to create a scandal at international level. As her visit was unexpected, there was no room available, and it was against regulations to enter the hospital or his cell. They allowed them to meet in the guards’ locker room. Yury Bandazhevsky walked there, accompanied by a warden. He had drawn features but other than that he looked well, better than he had the time before when he had his heart attack. What had happened?

  During the day on Monday 29th September, he had pains in his stomach that soon became unbearable. To begin with, he thought it was his ulcer that had reopened. On Tuesday 30th September, he spoke to the young doctor on duty.` This doctor told him he was exaggerating the problem. He gave him an enema and a painkiller by injection, which not only ran the risk of making the problems in his abdomen worse but also reduced the possibility of a clinical observation. Instead of feeling better, he felt much worse, his stomach was swollen, tight like a drum, he felt sick and he was in continual extreme pain. By chance, there had been another detainee in his cell for the past few days and he was able to alert the doctor. On Wednesday 1st October, he told him that Yury was asking to go to hospital. He was put on a mattress with no sheets, where he spent the next night trembling with pain and a high temperature. He asked for a blood test, thinking now that it could be appendicitis. He was told that it was impossible as the laboratory assistant was not there.