Freed businessman tells of life with K.G.B.

Press, 21 November 1978, Page 9

Freed businessman tells of life with K.G.B.

NZPA-Reuter London; | A former British business- ! man, Mr Nikolai Sharygin,' yesterday said he had had aj death sentence read to him! in a condemned cell, and! had suffered beatings during 10 years in Soviet labour ;amps and prisons. He was speaking on Ins arrival from Moscow after) his release by the Soviet authorities, who convicted, him of treason for fleeing l the Soviet Union and engaging in anti-Soviet activity during the 22 vears he lived in Britain. The Ukrainian-born Mr Sharygin. aged 52, described his arrest during a business trip to Moscow in 1968 as East Europe representative of the British electronics! firm. Empexion. “They just burst into my| hotel room and took me to the K.G.B. (secret police)

[headquarters,” he said. “1, [was held there all day and' '•was then taken to a Moscow 'prison and put in the con-! i demned cell where they read! I the death sentence to me.' [saying I had been found [guilty in my absence." I Mr Sharygin added: "li ; was not afraid or worried. I knew it was some kind of iblackmail. Eventually they! [took me to a cell which housed other men." ! Conditions in prison, he: said, had been "pretty bad.” “You cannot get help from [anybody. If you try to com-! [plain to higher authorities. [ the complaints are just [ [brushed aside and you are. [punished for them.” [ Mr Sharygin described his[ [beating in prison. “I was; [kicked pretty badly by a[ [K.G.B. major during inter-; [rogation, and then later II [was beaten when I refused[ [to have my hair shaved off. I 'Then, in the forced labour!

.camp. 1 refused to go into a [ punishment cell without ! having a doctor's check-up, and was beaten again." Before leaving Moscow. Mr Sharygin told British re- [ porters at Sheremetyevo (Airport: "I’ll campaign' for people in the Soviet Union and every country where they are oppressed for their political views." He was accused at his trial of being a deserter from the Soviet Army, but he has always denied this.; saying he had been taken from the Ukraine by German forces as a teen-ager during World War Two. I On arriving in London, he [said he would appb for British citizenship. Paying! tribute to the British authorities for trying to secure his [ release, he said: "I think i their pressure certainly 'helped, and I am very grateiful.”