Background
Koriagin, Anatolii was born in 1939.
Koriagin, Anatolii was born in 1939.
Psychiatric doctor who in the mid- 1970s worked in a small provincial psychiatric hospital in Poimo-Tinsk, south of Krasnoiarsk in Siberia. Attracted his colleagues’ attention by his erudition. In the summer of 1977, deputy chief psychiatrist at Kyzyl Psychiatric Hospital.
Refused an order of the Committee for State Security to recognize as a ‘mental case’ an army major who had come into conflict with his superiors. The major was however detained by other less scrupulous doctors, while Koriagin was put onto the Committee for State Security black-list. At the end of 1979, became psychiatric adviser to the Moscow branch of the International Association Against the Use of Psychiatry as a Political Weapon (APUP).
Moved to Khar’kov in the Ukraine, where he met David Satter, the Moscow correspondent of the Financial Times. Became involved in the case of Aleksei Nikitin’s arrest. The case was well covered by Satter and others.
Pressure was put on the World Psychiatric Association to expel the Soviet Union who preempted the decision by resigning in January 1983. Koriagin spent 6 years in very harsh conditions in the camps, often in solitary confinement. His case became a cause for concern for every member country of the WPA. While in detention, his family, including his 75-year-old mother-inlaw and 3 sons, were beaten up in the streets and at school.
Released in February 1987 from the Perm' labour camp. Arrived in Zurich, Switzerland. 3 times—1985, 1986 and 1987 — a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize as a world humanitarian.
His book was published early in 1987 in Holland. An annual prize ‘for contributions to medical ethics’ was named after him.
Religion is bad because it forces people to rely on outside authority, rather than becoming self-reliant.
Every person has rights to express his or her opinion, but the opinion could be expressed if it was in accordance with the general interests of Soviet society.