Early Life
Petrov was born in Russia in 1915 during the last days of the Tsar. He studied at the University of Leningrad, living in his words "the meager existence of a young student" where he was arrested on the night of February 17, 1935 by the NKVD. He was arrested at age 19 as part of the mass purges which followed in the wake of the assassination of Sergey Kirov. He was imprisoned and tortured for months before being formally charged with a crime.
The crimes he was charged with were, as related in his autobiography:
1. Writing of anti-soviet character (my diaries).
2. Possession of counter-revolutionary literature (the diaries...)
3. Espionage (correspondence with philatelists in the United States of America and Yugoslavia)
4. Anti-Soviet propaganda abroad (ditto).
5. Fomenting an armed uprising among the Cossacks...
6. Preparations for robbing savings banks and co-operatives...
7. Organization of counter-revolutionary group among the student of my institute...
8. Anti-Soviet propaganda among the population
A "troyka" (tribunal of three judges) convicted him of charges 1, 5, and 7 as given above. The only evidence presented was a personal diary he had written when he was 16. Without being able to consult counsel or view the evidence against him, he was sentenced to six years hard labor in the gold fields of the Kolyma. Due to their association with him, multiple of his colleagues were arrested on similar charges of counter-revolutionary activity.
He was sentenced under Article 58, Paragraphs 10 and 14 of the Soviet legal code. This made him a "contra" or "counter-revolutionary political prisoner," a resident of the GULAG archipelago.
Read more about this topic: Vladimir Nikolayevich Petrov
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