Coup Plotters Are Now in Prison, Not Homes, Soviet Papers Report
Most of the once-lofty officials arrested in last month’s failed coup have been transferred from private country homes and are now doing time in a prison with common criminals, newspapers reported Saturday.
Former KGB chief Vladimir A. Kryuchkov is sharing a cell with two criminals; his deputy, Col. Gen. Viktor Grushko, has three cellmates, and former Defense Minister Dmitri T. Yazov has one, the newspapers said.
“Their conditions are no worse and no better than that of the other inmates,” the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta quoted Russian Prosecutor Valentin Stepankov as saying.
The accounts dealt with 13 top government, military or party officials who were arrested on charges of treason for trying to topple Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
They are allowed no visitors or food parcels, but clothes can be sent in. Yazov’s relatives sent him a track suit, and former Prime Minister Valentin S. Pavlov asked for his own jacket and cap to wear during daily strolls, the newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta said.
“Wake-up time is 6 a.m., bedtime is 10 p.m. Each is allowed an hourlong walk in the open air. Their only privilege is a heavier guard,” Stepankov told the paper.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
