Don’t threaten society with your opinions!

Mikhail Ignatevich Kukobaka was born in 1936 in the Belarusian city of Bobruisk, where he trained as an electrician. For several years he worked at construction sites and factories throughout the Soviet Union. In August 1968 Kukobaka openly expressed his opposition to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops by handing a letter to the Czechoslovak consul in Kiev. In connection with the invasion, he refused to undergo military training, saying he would have to turn his machine gun on his own, on the occupiers. Between 1970 and 1988 he was alternately placed in psychiatric hospitals, labour camps and prison.

The meeting with Kukobaka will be chaired by Míša Stoilová and interpreted by Edita Jiráková. The event is taking place in cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and the association Archipelag.