"I will be more unhappy of any animal": letters from a psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospital No. 1 in Chelyabinsk, from which Alexei Moroshkin recently emerged, and in Soviet times was used as a place of maintenance of political opponents of the authorities. Historian Aleksey Makarov specifically for the OWD-info prepared for the publication of the letter Nizametdin Akhmetov, who got to this hospital in 1987.

The hero of this publication is a hard fate.

Nizametdin Akhmetov was born in 1949, a poet-self-taught poet. At the age of 20, already in the camp, he was convicted of “anti -Soviet agitation” (anti -communist leaflets) for the maximum period of 7 years of camps and 5 years of exile. In 1972, he was again convicted in the camp for the distribution of leaflets. The term of Akhmetov was serving in the Mordovian political camps and Vladimir prison.

Judging by his description, the camps have not changed at all since the Gulag: for example, in 1978, he, like Solovki prisoners, sends letters to the west with export wood.

In 1982, he was again judged - for a letter to the Madrid meeting to verify the implementation of the Helsinki agreements. This time it is recognized as insane and sent for compulsory treatment-to the Alma-Ata Special Psychiatric Hospital, where he stayed for 5 years. On February 12, 1987, Akhmetova was transferred to the 10th branch of the Chelyabinsk Regional Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 [1] ( Alexey Moroshkin was also there).

From the memoirs of Akhmetov [2] :

We are again on Svoboda Street, now we need to look for a mental hospital where they are already waiting for me: syringes are scored, tablets are laid out, sleeves are rolled up for the orderlies. From the first minute, I will begin to prick my family with various drugs, five of which are strong antipsychotics and one - sulfazin. From the first minute, I will receive so many pills that it is difficult to keep them all together. From the first minute, the orderlies will be instructed to treat me especially strictly, and during the first booze they will beat me like no one ever beat me. All this is ahead, and now we are standing on Svoboda Street and ask the old woman how to get to a psychiatric hospital. - And go, dear, directly and come. At the end of Freedom Street, Kasatika, at the end of Freedom Street.

From the hospital, Akhmetov managed to transmit two letters describing the life and morals of this place. Both letters were published 30 years ago in the emigrant newspaper Russian Thought, nevertheless, the publisher seems to be curious for the reader. Letters are published according to the manuscript original and typewritten copy, which are stored in the archive of the international memorial (f. 103. OP.1. The Akhmetov N. folder). Corrections during publication are not stipulated.

Akhmetov was released from the hospital on June 4, 1987, but his adventure did not end. After a month and a half, he leaves for Germany, but after 3 years he returns to his homeland (he already managed to lose the Soviet passport), they initiate the case of the illegal crossing of the border against him, but in 1991 they close. Akhmetov currently lives in Chelyabinsk.

Letter of March 1, 1987 with an unknown person

My joy was premature. I fell under brutal treatment - sulfazine, terases, Seduxen, Klosapin, PMKM [3] . The devil knows what else to do. I lose my ability to think, and if haloperidol is prescribed, Mazheptil, cod - and this is all in line - I will have saliva, like a cow, and I will be more unhappy than any animal.

Maybe it's all revenge? Even in the emergency room, I was met by a commission as part of the prosecutor of the city, local Kagabeshnik, some professor and beginning. my department. They demanded that I give a subscription that I did not want to go to the West.

Help how you can.

March 1, 1987. Nizametdin

On the back of ink (and this note is written in a bad pencil) says :

This letter was handed over to me through the hospital window. He really asked to send you.

Akhmetov is in full isolation in the Chelyabinsk region. psycho. Since February 12, 1987, in addition to this secretly sent note, there were no other news from him [4] .

Letter of March 13, 1987

On the night of March 6-7, for no reason and reason, I was beaten by 5 drunken orderlies. My left eye is disfigured, the right backbone, injuries of the head, chest and liver are dissected. Maybe I will survive, I have to survive, but suffered unbearable consequences for health. In addition to me, several dozens of patients were beaten. The main thing is that these scum were familiar with my history of the disease, that is, a medical secret. They began to beat me in the ward, then dragged me in their underpants, beat in the corridor, beat in the toilet. They demanded from me “two pieces” in currency, and my mother receives 70 rubles. In the owls. rubles. I was at a loss myself, where did I get the currency? Currently, I am a beggar, I live at the expense of my sister and mother, occasionally a brother comes. They beat me at least 1.5 hours, I now barely walk. I am getting around, I don't know. They were all kicked out of work, they had a criminal case, but none of them were arrested. Help me, maybe it will be possible to transfer me to Moscow, otherwise another excess, and I can’t vouch for my life.

Big Hello Vl. Gershuni [5] [6] .

[1] In its current form, the hospital was opened in 1967, and the department for forced treatment appeared in 1985. Located at - Chelyabinsk, st. Kuznetsova, d. 2a. With Freedom Street, this street does not intersect.

[2] Akhmetov N. Street Freedom // Youth. 1990. No. 3. S. 59.

[3] The medicine could not be installed.

[4] Published in the newspaper "Russian Thought". 1987.20 March.

[5] dissident Vladimir Gershuni sat with Akhmetov in the Alma-Ata Special Psychiatric Hospital.

[6] Published in the newspaper "Russian Thought". 1987. April 10.