The trial of Soviet writers Daniel and Sinyavsky

Witness History

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In 1965, two writers were accused of publishing anti-Soviet material abroad.

The arrest of Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky was seen as symbolic of the new era in the Soviet Union.

The liberal leader Nikita Khrushchev had been ousted in favour of hardliner Leonid Brezhnev, and dissenting political views were being cracked down on.

In a moment considered the start of the dissident movement in the Soviet Union, hundreds of protesters demonstrated in Pushkin Square, in Moscow, for the writers to be given an open trial.

Vicky Farncombe tells the story using BBC archive and an interview with Yuli Daniel's son, Alexander.

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(Photo: Soviet authors Yuli Daniel (left) and Andrei Sinyavsky sit in prisoners' dock. Credit: Getty Images)

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