The book was a critical analysis of economic and social problems in the Soviet Union. It was very critical of the Communist Party. The book contained material about top party leaders and the mayor of Leningrad at the time. It was confiscated by the KGB under unusual circumstances. I was then illegally accused of creating anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation according to Article 17 of the Judicial Code. The illegality of the charges against me was substantiated by Wolfgang Kobe, a lawyer from Amnesty International.

Did the book re veal any classified information?

There was no classified information in this book, yet the KGB accused me of this. I wrote the book with the intention of publishing only some of its chapters, not the whole book. I asked a friend to give only some of the chapters to a student from Italy who was studying in the Soviet Union, but he gave her the whole book. She was staying with a Russian family, and the head of the family informed the KGB when he found out about the book. As she was leaving the Soviet Union, she was searched thoroughly at the airport and the book was discovered.

The KGB claimed that she said a man placed the book in her bag unexpectedly as she was going along Nevsky Prospect. She was released soon afterwards and left the country. From the point of the Soviet jury, she was the sole witness; and since she is the only one who knew the whole story, only she could dismiss the accusations against me.

I was under KGB surveillance for three weeks and then I was arrested. After I refused to cooperate with the KGB, new charges were added. In 1973 I was found guilty and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. I was tortured during the interrogation by Lt. Col. Rapchik, one of the KGB investigators. During my detention I became aware that the KGB was directing ultra-sound microwaves at prisoners as a method of torture. These waves were also directed against the American consulate in Leningrad some years ago.

This method of torture was used in the prisons for testing its effects. Those who cooperated with the KGB were not subjected to torture. Some of the prisoners complained of feeling very hot even when there was snow on the ground. This method of torture affected the functions of the body's organs. It changed body temperature suddenly, and the heart rate increased rapidly. KGB specialists monitored the situation from outside the fence surrounding the prison.

You were sent to a labor camp. Were there other political prisoners there?

The first year I was in a camp near Saransk, east of Moscow. I was later transferred to the Perm region where I remained until last year. At present there is only one camp for political prisoners - Number 35. Now they send political prisoners to other prison camps. Two American Congressmen were invited to Camp 35 to show that this is the only remaining political prison camp left, yet there are many other political prisoners in other camps.

I was in Camp 33, which was also a political prisoner camp, but that was closed down and I was transferred to Camp 35.

What kind of labor did they force you to do. What were the conditions like?

By Soviet law, all prisoners are expected to work hard. I was subjected to constant torture. I had constant headaches and lost my ability to work or even read. I could .not even complete simple, ordinary assignments. I was kept in the penalty cell for two years. It was a pitiful record of what the political camps of the later period were like. I was placed under constant psychological stress, day and night. A lot of people died there.

Were you ever drugged by the prison guards? No, but the prisoners were given food that was treated with different types of chemicals. Something was in the food which produced various effects on the prisoners. Some prisoners lost their appetite, others became extremely fat even though they were constantly hungry. Others became extremely thin though they ate constantly.

If I cooperated with the officials of the Ministry of Internal Security, they promised to release me. I refused and I expected to serve my thirteen-year sentence to the end. But I was released during the last year of my sentence under Gorbachev's special decree which emancipated all political prisoners. There were other prisoners in the camp who were convicted for political reasons, but they were just provocateurs who filled the files of the KGB.

What are your views about changing a state, a system, such as this to make sure that such cruelties do not continue?

I think that Lithuania provides a good example that the communist system cannot reform itself. I am convinced that perestroika and glasnost are political ploys used by the Communist Party to keep itself in power. The communist system cannot reform itself. This system is so rotten down to its roots that it will never change. The influence of the KGB and the power of the Soviet Army will not allow for greater steps toward democracy. They tried to get rid of democracy's influence in Lithuania; that's why the republic is being severely punished.

In this interview, Leonid Lubman, a Soviet emigre now living in Brooklyn. New York, discussed his ordeal with the KGB and life as a political prisoner in the Soviet Union.