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Andrei Sakharov and Human Rights Human Rights writings Andrei Sakharov and human rights COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSAIRE AUX DROITS DE L'HOMME Andrei Sakharov and human rights Council of Europe Publishing The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Council of Europe. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced or trans- mitted, in any form or by any means, electronic (CD-Rom, Internet, etc.) or mechan- ical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the Public Information Division, Directorate of Communication (F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex or [email protected]). Cover photo: Sakharov at the General Meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 27 December 1988. © L. Sherstennikov 1988. Back cover photo: Sakharov working at home, Moscow, winter 1987. © Yuri Rost, 1987. Cover design: Documents and Publications Production Department (SPDP), Council of Europe Layout: Jouve, Paris Council of Europe Publishing F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex http://book.coe.int ISBN 978-92-871-6947-1 © Council of Europe, December 2010 Printed at the Council of Europe Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................6 Foreword ...........................................................................................................................................7 Editor’s note .................................................................................................................................9 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 11 Nobel presentation speech ...................................................................................... 11 I. Autobiography .................................................................................................................. 19 An autobiographical note ........................................................................................... 19 Exile in Gorky ........................................................................................................................ 24 Return to Moscow ............................................................................................................ 28 II. Andrei Sakharov’s vision and world view .......................... 33 Prologue to My Country and the World ......................................................... 33 Reflections on Progress, Co-existence and Intellectual Freedom ........................................................................................... 35 Postscript to Memorandum ..................................................................................... 45 Interview with Olle Stenholm ................................................................................... 50 Nobel lecture: Peace, progress, human rights ........................................ 53 Open letter to the President of the Academy of Sciences ............ 56 Danger of thermonuclear war ............................................................................... 61 The inevitability of perestroika .............................................................................. 61 Concluding statement to the First Congress of People’s Deputies ...................................................................................................... 74 Andrei Sakharov and human rights | 3 III. Human rights activities ................................................................................ 79 The responsibility of scientists .............................................................................. 80 Eastern Europe ................................................................................................................... 85 The human rights movement in the USSR ................................................. 87 A Chronicle of Current Events ............................................................................... 90 The Initiative Group for the Defence of Human Rights ..................... 92 The Moscow Human Rights Committee ....................................................... 94 The Memorial Society ................................................................................................... 99 Appeals and action ......................................................................................................101 Rehabilitation of Stalin ..............................................................................................102 Prisoners of conscience and political prisoners .................................105 Political trials and the rule of law ....................................................................111 Abolition of the death penalty .............................................................................118 Protection of the environment ............................................................................124 International responsibility for human rights .........................................128 IV. In tribute ..............................................................................................................................131 Sergei Kovalev: Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov: Meeting the demands of reason .........131 Valentin Turchin: My memory of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ................ 139 Valery Chalidze: Andrei Sakharov and the Russian intelligentsia ...............................................141 Pavel Litvinov: In search of dialogue ..........................................................................146 Yuri Orlov ............................................................................................................................................151 4 | Contents Interview with President Mikhail Gorbachev ..........................................155 President Boris Yeltsin ...............................................................................................162 President Dmitry Medvedev .................................................................................163 Efrem Yankelevich: Sakharov’s alternatives ............................................163 Václav Havel: Preface to the Collected Works of Andrei Sakharov .......................................................................................................169 Adam Michnik: Sakharov from a Polish perspective ......................171 Thomas Hammarberg: The relevance of Andrei Sakharov’s example and message on human rights in today’s world ..........174 Appendix 1 Andrei Sakharov – A chronology ......................................................................181 Appendix 2 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................191 Andrei Sakharov and human rights | 5 Acknowledgements The Commissioner wishes to thank Elena Bonner, Valery Chalidze, Václav Havel, Izvestiya, Edward Kline, Sergei Kovalev, Adam Michnik, Yuri Orlov, Yuri Rost, Tanya Turchin, Random House Inc., The Nobel Foundation, and Vremya for their permission to use texts in this book. He also thanks the Andrei Sakharov Archive, Elena Bonner, ITAR-TASS, Pavel Litvinov, Yuri Rost, L. Sherstennikov, Hedrick Smith, R. Sobol, Radii Tsimerinov, and I. Zarembo for permitting use of the photographs included in the book. 6 | Acknowledgements Foreword Autocratic rulers seek to prevent any form of criticism. They want silence. Standing up for human rights requires breaking this silence and exposing the facts as they are. Even in the most repressive societies there have been indi- viduals who have resisted injustice and spoken out with a principled critique of society, often against the prevailing spirit of their times and at great personal cost – thereby giving courage to others. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, the eminent Russian physicist and Nobel peace laureate, was such a man and one of the great human rights champions of our age. These readings set out to capture the significance of Andrei Sakharov for Europe today. The circumstances in which Sakharov lived were, of course, different – the Second World War, followed by the Cold War, a world divided into East and West, one where competing powers brought immense suffering to people throughout the world, and where ideological rivalries shaped understandings of human rights in ways far removed from their original spirit and intent. Sakharov understood the deeper significance of human rights and their centrality for a peaceful and just world. Much has changed in the two decades since his death, but many problems Sakharov confronted remain: unaccount- able regimes and institutions; politicised trials; inhumane prison conditions; the retention of the death penalty; curbs on freedoms of association and assembly; denial of freedom of expression and the free exchange of informa- tion and ideas; and the suppression of those who speak out. We have sought to select readings which resonate today and to structure them so that they make up a coherent whole. The presentation speech made in Oslo in December 1975, when Sakharov received the Nobel Peace Prize, forms the introduction both to Sakharov and to this publication. An autobio- graphical section follows. Subsequent sections draw from Sakharov’s writings to cast light on his vision, on his ideas and on his actions to defend human Andrei Sakharov and human rights | 7 rights.
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