◆ SpookStack

Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-00788R001300020001-6 CONFIDENTIAL ST-CS—-01-169-72 July 1972 southwest of Moscow. Mr. Gershuni gives a description of the conditions in which mental patients (both genuine and political) are held. "Eight people to a 16 or 17 meter cell. ... (Comment : This seems large enough for eight people if figure is correct.) There is no room to move. One is allowed to go along the corridor, but only if it's absolutely necessary - to the toilet, or to get some food from the nurse. . . . The toilet is a cesspit: four holes in the ground and two taps for 54 people. . . . From 7 to 8:30 in the evening we're allowed to use the dining room for writing letters, or to play dominoes and chess. The bedlam is indescrib- able." Mr. Gershuni talks about the use of drugs, one of which is aminazine, a powerful substance, administered orally or by intramuscular injections, which causes depressive shock reactions and frequently malignant tumors. Sometimes drugs are given as a form of punishment. “Any phrase spoken incautiously to a doctor or nurse can serve as a pretext for a series of aminazine injections. Sometimes these injections are prescribed without any pretext, . simply because of some doctor's whim. . . without any medical examination. .. . This medicine makes me feel more horrible than anything I've ever experienced before; you no sooner lie down than you want to get up, you no sooner take a step than you're longing to sit down, and if you sit down, you want to walk again - and there's nowhere to walk." Mr. Gershuni finishes his account by describing the fate of a young man, once brilliantly “alive and alert," who as a result of repeated doses of aminazine, "and God only knows what else," had been reduced to a vegetable: "his head on one side, his speech languid and indistinct, his eyes glazed." "He was thus," concludes Mr. Gershuni, "cancelled out for five whole months. Hail to Soviet 'special psychiatry'! I kiss you ail." 13. (C) To belabor this subject of political detention is not the intention of this section, However, it is believed to be of sufficient importance that this much material had to be presented. It is difficult to judge the overall validity of much of the ref- erenced material because of its source (primarily samizdat and letters), but if true, it bears watching and possible investigation for future developments. Portions of this material contain sufficient data on human mental manipulation and therefore warrants surveilance by interested agencies. From the information available at this time, it appears that the Soviet Union stresses physical and medical "treatment" of its political detainees under the guise of psychiatric-care rehabilitation. No data is available on the use of sound, lights, or hypnosis as methods of obtaining confessions or. reorientating the beliefs of these prisoners. For a listing of personnel and institutes involved in political-— psychiatric care, see Appendix I. Many personalities involved 7 CONFIDENTIAL Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-00788R001300020001-6