• Moscow city & Moscow region  Human rights activists  Freedom of speech

The journalist and writer Natella Boltyanskaya has released the first part of a video trilogy about the life of the famous Russian human rights activist, Sergei Kovalev. The directors are Ksenia and Kirill Sakharnov.

Three whole programmes will be dedicated to Sergei Kovalev. The reason is that Sergei Kovalev's civil activism began in 1956 and has continued virtually non-stop since then. Kovalev's activities have always been controversial and have attracted criticism.

In 1975 Sergei Kovalev was tried in Vilnius. Recently, for his 80th birthday, he received criminal file no. 423 – his own criminal file, uncut.

For various reasons, access to Russian archives is now being restricted, so that it is becoming harder for people to find out information, even about their own criminal files in their entirety. Kovalev's file runs to 30 volumes and is a unique encyclopaedia of the dissident movement. Many materials from it were used in this series.

Kovalev's file carries the fingerprints of many events and famous people. We extend our thanks for making video materials available to us to Boris Yeltsin's Presidential Centre and to the editors of polit.ru, as well as to Lyubov Fridrikhovna Borusyak personally.

Filming was carried out in Moscow and in Dallas. Directors: Ksenia and Kirill Sakharnov. Camera work: Kirill Sakharnov, Andrei Turusov, Ksenia Sakharnov, Denis Kovalev.

Photographs used are from the Kovalev family archive. Journalist Alexei Naryshkin from “Ekho Moskvy" took part in this programme. This project is supported by OAK Foundation and the Andrei Sakharov Fund.

Translated by Suzanne Eade Roberts