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Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-00788R001300020001-6 UNCLASSIFIED ST-CS-01-169-72 July 1972 c. The third punishment was the canvas bandage. An inmate would be tightly swathed in wet canvas from neck to toes while others in his ward were forced to watch. "The canvas shrinks as it dries. It is not a pretty sight. They usually only do it for two or three hours. A nurse is always in attendance, and the ‘bandages are loosened when the pulse grows weak." 5. (U) A thousand-word telegram by Andrei D. Sakhaiov to Colonel Nikolai A. Shchelokov, Minister of the Interior, relates further information on the use of drugs to alter mental behavior (11). Sakhaiov, a physicist and civil-rights champion, charged that a violation of human rights and medical ethics is occurring in the Soviet Union. The contention is that drugs are being administered forcibly to inmates in an effort to have them change their political beliefs. In addition, some prisoners are threatened with the possible use of electrical-shock "therapy." According to Sakhaiov, medicine, one of the most humane of the professions, is thus being turned into a servile handmaiden of the regimes correction agencies. It is further reported that with the help of medicine, an attempt is being made to make people literally lose their minds by chemical and physical means if they refuse to adapt their mind to the standards of the regime. 6. (U) One of the few references that mention a drug by name is a London Times feature by Richard Preston (12). In several cases, Soviet authorities forced political prisoners to submit to the use of mind-bending drugs, specifically aminazine and haloperidol. Aminazine is the Soviet brand of a phenothiazine derivative known as chlorpromazine. Haloperidol is a butyrophenone. -Both drugs are in the tranquilizer class of therapeutic agents. An excellent discussion on both of these drugs has been prepared by Goodman and Gilman (13). 7. (U) Information on the plight of political prisoners in mental wards and other examples of intemal Soviet repression is contained in Issue 18 of "A Chronicle of Current Events." The chronicle has just passed its third anniversary despite the increasing efforts of the KGB to shut down this underground publication. The last issue discusses the case of Vasily I. Chemyshov who was arrested in March of 1970. The chronicle quotes Chernyshov.... "I am terribly afraid of torture. But there is an even worse torture — meddling with my brain with chemical substances. I have now been informed of the decision that I shall be given treatment. Farewell!" Chernyshov's compulsory "treatment" was prescribed after only a five minute interview with the authorities. The concluding statement from the panel of doctors was, "The main thing for us is that you shouldn't think at all." 5 UNCLASSIFIED Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-00788R001300020001-6