Note: Larisa Kharchenko, formerly an aide to ex-St. Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak, was held in a Moscow jail from July 8 to December 19, 1997, allegedly to pressure her into giving false testimony about Sobchak to investigators. During her internment, she was denied medical attention for her hypertension and heart ailments, arousing the concern of her daughter, Inna, who organized an international grassroots campaign on her mother's behalf. UCSJ was among the organizations that called for, and eventually effected, Larisa Kharchenko's release on her personal recognizance.

The following is her account of the conditions of her Moscow prison. The italicized comments are from her daughter Inna.

I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to the international human rights organizations, especially to the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, the mass media, and all people that supported me at the most difficult and critical moment of my life.

Since March 1996, a special group of investigating authorities from the Office of Procurator General of Russia has been forcing her to give them false testimonies against Sobchak, for whom she had previously worked unofficially as a consultant on housing matters. During this time, she had been repeatedly threatened with imprisonment and with ill-treatment. Every week, she was regularly taken from her daily schedule for 10 to 14 hours of questioning, even from the hospitals where she had been receiving treatment. Her blood pressure for the last two years has been greater than 230/120, medically considered to be life-threatening.

I was illegally arrested without a warrant at 11 a.m. on July 7, 1997 and transported to Moscow. I was allowed neither to take my personal belongings and medications from home nor to meet with my husband. In Moscow, I was illegally detained without food and water until 10 p.m. the next day. Following my arrival in Moscow, I suffered a hypertensive crisis and felt that I was in a state of pre-heart attack. In spite of that, I was locked in a cell, where the investigators Mikheev, Gorbunov, Menshikov, and Dmishutkin pressed me to provide them with a written statement against former St. Petersburg mayor Sobchak. They threatened me with arrest and imprisonment.

I tried to explain to them that they were mistaken about my knowledge of Sobchak's affairs. However, they were not pleased with this explanation. "Only your testimony will save you," said chief investigator Mikheev. "We have prepared two warrants for Katyshev's signature: one is your arrest warrant, the other is your personal recognizance statement. So it's up to you which of them will be submitted for his signature." Later, Menshikov added, "It does not matter that you are innocent. We know that you are an honest person. You have only one choice, which is to testify against Sobchak and his assistants. Even if you are not sure, don't know exactly, or have heard just a rumor, we want you to testify. Sobchak is abroad, and your are in jail. Think about it." This pressing lasted for twelve hours. At the end, Mikh