Background
Titov, Vladimir was born in 1938.
Titov, Vladimir was born in 1938.
Former Committee for State Security lieutenant, who left the Committee for State Security in 1961 because of disillusionment with its methods. Became involved in the human rights campaign in the USSR, which soon led him into conflict with his former bosses. Spent 18 years in labour camps, 5 of them in a special mental hospital.
Released in 1987. In an unprecedented campaign to publicize the plight of scores of sane Soviet political prisoners, gave a press conference to more than 30 Western journalists in a small private flat under the nose of the Committee for State Security. Gave a devastating account of how he was classified as schizophrenic for giving information to Western contacts about Soviet prison labour being used on various energy projects, including the pipeline linking Siberia to Western Europe. According to him, 20% of the 1,000 inmates of Soviet psychiatric institutions were perfectly healthy, and there only because of their beliefs.
Described in detail 18 such hospitals where sane people were treated by psychiatrists in military uniforms.