Valery Abramkin

Valery Abramkin was a former Soviet dissident, nuclear scientist and rights activist who was held for years in the labour camps. In post Soviet Russia he campaigned for prison reform. Abramkin was hea

In memoriam Valery Abramkin, Russia's prison reformer

Celebrated Russian activist Valery Abramkin has died aged 66. Here we republish extracts from a lecture delivered in 2006, which contains many fascinating insights into the rules of behaviour, hierarchies and relationships within Soviet and Russian prisons. (With a foreword by MaryMcAuley.)

By Mary McAuley and Valery Abramkin

/ 6 Feb 2013