Valeriy Heorhiyovych Avdeyev

VALERIY HEORHIYOVYCH AVDEYEV (b. 1952 in Voronezh, Russia – d. June 1998 in Voronezh).
Serviceman. Attempted to escape from the USSR. A victim of punitive psychiatry.
Avdeyev graduated from high school in Voronezh, worked at an aircraft factory, and was an inventor. In 1979, he was drafted into the army and served in the Moscow region. He was critical of the regime and dreamed of emigration. In 1980, he deserted from the army and went to Batumi. In June, he swam to a Greek tanker anchored offshore and asked the ship’s captain to help him leave the USSR. Avdeyev wanted to seek asylum in Switzerland. However, the ship’s crew handed the fugitive over to Soviet border guards.
On September 30, 1980, the Supreme Court of the Adjar ASSR declared him insane and sent him to the Dnipropetrovsk Special Psychiatric Hospital. For some time, he was held there in the same cell as the legendary OLEKSANDR KANAFYEV. From April 16, he was in the Volgograd SPH. On February 7, 1989, he was transferred to a general-type psychiatric hospital in Voronezh. He was released on July 25, 1989.
During his confinement, Avdeyev did in fact develop a mental illness and suffered from depression. He was periodically committed to a psychiatric hospital. After the collapse of the USSR, he was disillusioned by savage capitalism and rampant crime: “And this is what we fought for?” In 1997, his mother died, and Valeriy had a strained relationship with his father. After a conflict, he found himself in a psychiatric hospital again. In June 1998, he escaped and, a few days later, hanged himself in a cemetery, leaving a note saying he did not want to spend his whole life in a psychiatric prison.
Author: Oleg Sofianyk, 2012.