Back in the USSR
The conviction of two prominent dissidents conjures up the Soviet past
“MY DEAR Arif, after 36 years of life together we’re in different cells in different prisons. Perhaps you’re unaware, I can bear it all: Terrible physical pain (I’m already coming down with pneumonia from the cold water), pressure from a hardened prisoner and even visits from those jackals in the prosecutor’s office. Most difficult of all is you are not nearby. For 36 years we have almost never been apart!”
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Back in the USSR”
From the August 22nd 2015 edition
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