Vladimir Bukovsky

Vladimir Bukovsky

Writer and Soviet dissident

Vladimir Bukovsky was an author, activist, and former Soviet dissident. He spent a total of 12 years in Soviet prisons, labor camps, and forced-treatment psychiatric hospitals. Bukovsky was arrested and confined to a psychiatric hospital for possession of photocopies of anti-Soviet literature. After he successfully smuggled documents to the West detailing the Soviet authorities’ use of psychiatric institutions as a weapon against political prisoners, Bukovsky was again arrested and convicted of “slander of Soviet psychiatry.” While in prison, he co-authored “A Manual on Psychiatry for Dissidents” to help other dissidents resist forced psychiatric treatment. The Soviet government exchanged Bukovsky for the imprisoned Chilean communist leader Luis Corvalán; he later found refuge in the United Kingdom. He was a member of the international advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Bukovsky was an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin and an original signatory to the online anti-Putin protest “Putin Must Go.” He died on Oct. 27, 2019.

Vladimir's Books

To Build a Castle - My Life as a Dissenter (1979)

To Build a Castle: My Life as a Dissenter

Vladimir Bukovsky
Who Is for Peace (1983)

Who Is for Peace?

Vladimir Bukovsky
Soviet Hypocrisy and Western Gullibility (1987)

Soviet Hypocrisy and Western Gullibility

Vladimir Bukovsky
Subscribe and listen to ​Vladimir’s talks on​

Vladimir's Talks

No results found.

Related Talks

Fire Under the Snow

Palden Gyatso | 2009 OFF in Oslo

The Fiery Heart of Uzbekistan

Mutabar Tadjibaeva | 2009 OFF in Oslo
Vo Van Ai - The Impact of Indifference

The Impact of Indifference

Vo Van Ai | 2009 OFF in Oslo

The Struggle of Turkey's Kurds

Leyla Zana | 2009 OFF in Oslo

How can we help?

Hit enter to search or ESC to close