Вил Мирзаянов - State Secrets - An Insider's Chronicle of the Russian Chemical Weapons Program

Two days later Asnis came to visit me once more in jail. He told me about my status. It turned out that until the resolution of the court was properly recorded and sent to the Attorney General’s Office by special mail, I would remain at the disposal of the court. In other words, I was still a captive prisoner of vengeful Judge Nikolai Sazonov.

When my case and the court’s resolution arrived at the Attorney General’s Office and the jail received notification of it, I would become the ward of the Attorney General’s Office, which would be free to decide my fate. I had only to wait. I was very pleased, because both Asnis and I believed that Aleksei Kazannik would immediately release me. I felt fine when I said good-bye to my lawyer, and I carried back a pile of newspapers with materials about my case.

I prepared myself for the possibility that I would be released only by the end of the following week. Fortunately, it happened earlier. On Tuesday, February 22, when we were boiling food from concentrates for lunch, the head appeared in the door of the cell, and in keeping with the established rules, asked “Who is Mirzayanov?”

“I am Mirzayanov!” I shouted.

The head snapped, “Quiet! Get your stuff ready to head for the exit!”

I got ready quickly and said farewell to my cellmates. I was glad that I was leaving this damned jail but a little sad that my cellmates remained there.

Fifteen minutes later the cell door opened and the guard ordered me to follow him. We followed the usual route to the place where they searched me. Then I was locked in a solitary cell, and I waited for what seemed like an eternity for the guard to come back.

He returned a few hours later and ordered me to undress. Then he started carefully examining all my belongings and all the folds of my body. There was nothing suspicious there. In my notebook I had the telephone numbers of my cellmates, but it was written as part of a mathematical equation. He didn’t notice my trick. However, the guard kept me in the solitary cell for yet another hour.

Finally, he came back and said that he had not been able to get some of my things from the jail storeroom because the keeper had finished his work and left for the day. Then he took me to the prison warden, A. Podrez.

A young and energetic man was sitting in a spacious office behind a long table. According to the inmates, he had inherited his job from his father, and he treasured his position a lot. I immediately decided that he looked like a typical secretary of the Komsomol Raikom. He was so well groomed, well nourished, and pleased with himself because his prospects for the future were simple and bright. If he didn’t become a party boss, he would be a VIP in trade or education. Or maybe he would even represent the country abroad, and “stand up for the interests of the proletariat” all over the world, while his efforts would be compensated in foreign currency.

Podrez showed me the resolution of the Attorney General about my release and asked me to sign that I had read it. I did so immediately. Then the warden asked me if I had any complaints or requests. I answered that I couldn’t get my stuff from the storeroom, and I didn’t have the fare to get home. I asked him to lend me 50 rubles for the metro ticket. Podrez gave me this money and I promised to return it the next day.

I kept my word and I handed 50 rubles through the window for parcels with a note “to be handed to the prison warden.” However strange it may seem, the money was received without any questions.

My family was waiting for me at home, because Aleksander Asnis had told my wife about my arrival in advance.

Later I found out that he had practically launched a ground support operation to release me. As soon as my case arrived at the Attorney General’s Office along with the official court decision, my lawyer sent a special courier to take the court resolution regarding my release to Aleksei Kazannik’s summer house, because he didn’t feel well and wasn’t at work. He signed a resolution and immediately sent it to the prison.

The first thing I did after my release was to call various organizations and tell them about the terrible conditions in which the prisoners of Matrosskaya Tishina were kept. I got in touch with the Red Cross office in Moscow, and some of their employees came to see me. I told them in detail about this prison, but it turned out that they had heard all of this before. Furthermore, they had even visited the prison, but so far their efforts hadn’t been rewarded with any positive results.

I also called Lord N. Bethel who was a very active member of the Commission for Human Rights in the European Parliament. Finally, I decided to send a detailed letter about inhuman conditions in Matrosskaya Tishina to Mr. Sammaruga, president of the Red Cross organization in Geneva.

The newspapers published an interview with me on this topic. [350] Vil Mirzayanov, “There are no Hellenes or Jews in Jail”, Moscow News , February 27, 1994. , [351] Konstantin Katanyan, “Jailers at “Matrosskaya Tishina Beat People Half to Death. Vil Mirzayanov Discloses Secrets of the Investigation Isolator Cell Number 1”, Golos , March 7-13, 1994. , [352] Leonard Nikishin, Leonid Sharov, “Vil Mirzayanov: Jail Brings you Closer to the Truth”, Obschaya Gazetta , March 4-10, 1994. , [353] Adam Tanner, “Chemist Blasts Jail as “Hitlerite”, The Moscow Times , February 24, 1994. , [354] Marie Jego, “Des Prisons Russes Toujours Sovietiques”, Le Monde , April 30, 1994. They also posted reports about my release from jail and gave comments on some possible solutions of my case. [355] Valeri Rudnev, “Non-Judicial Resolution was Enforced”, Izvestia , February 23, 1994. , [356] “Russia Released Scientist Imprisoned for Disclosure”, Washington Post , 24 February, 1994. , [357] Michael S. Serrill, “Exposing a Devilish Gas”, Time (International Edition), February 21, 1994. , [358] Richard Stone, “Russia Seen Poised to Drop Prosecution of Chemist”, Science , 25 February, 1994, vol. 263, p. 1083-1084. , [359] Kathy Lally, “The KGB’s Power: In Some Ways, Little has Changed”, Baltimore Sun , March 6, 1994.

Although I was released from custody, not everything was clear about my case. Aleksei Kazannik, the Attorney General of Russia, retired immediately after my release.

According to a special resolution of the Duma, he was obliged to sanction the release of the participants of the October 1993 coup. Many people in the Kremlin hoped Kazannik would not submit to this decision and would show “revolutionary consciousness.” Kazannik couldn’t do that, since he was an exceptionally honest man, even though I am certain that he didn’t have any sympathy at all for the mutineers.

The President appointed Aleksei Ilyushenko in his place, a man who had worked in the Russian Presidential Legal Department before that. My lawyer Asnis was preparing for the additional investigation, and at the same time he was doing everything that he could to get my case dismissed altogether. Frankly, I had no idea how he was doing all this. Still, I think my lawyer was justified in being cautious and not hurrying to describe his efforts to me in detail.

First of all, he knew that my telephone conversations could be tapped, and they could also listen in to my private conversations at home. Journalists were often able to fish out information ahead of time, which complicated his work. Neither then, nor later after the case was finished, did I ask Aleksander Asnis about the details of his activities.