Dina Kaminskaya
Encyclopedia
Dina Isaakovna Kaminskaya (13 January 1919, - 7 July 2006) was a lawyer and human rights activist in the Soviet Union
who was forced to emigrate in 1977 to avoid arrest. She and her husband moved to the United States
. She was born in Yekaterinoslav.
The writer Yuli Daniel
engaged Kaminskaya as his lawyer when, in December 1965, he was prosecuted with Andrei Sinyavsky
, but the state refused to allow her to speak up in court on his behalf. She went on to defend - as far as the Soviet authorities would let her in a legal system designed as an instrument of Soviet power - Vladimir Bukovsky
in 1967. She also defended Yuri Galanskov
(who would die in a Soviet labour camp), Anatoli Marchenko (who would also die in camp), Larisa Bogoraz
and Pavel Litvinov
, and the Crimean Tatar
activist Mustafa Jemilev.
Kaminskaya was prevented from defending Bukovsky in his 1971 trial and Sergei Kovalyov in 1975. In 1977, after being stripped of her license to practice as a lawyer, she was barred from defending Anatoli Shcharansky
.
Singer Yuly Kim estimated the efforts and honesty of Dina Kaminskaya and very few other defenders who insisted that there is no any criminal element in actions of their clients accused in the anti-soviet propaganda.
Kaminskaya's book Final Judgment: my life as a Soviet defense attorney, was published in English in 1982
The recent publication of Stars of Advocacy qualifies Dina Kaminskaya and Sofia Kallistratova as stars of the legal profession in Soviet Russia.
Kaminskaya was married to Konstantin Simis and they had one son, Dimitri K. Simes
. She died in Falls Church, Virginia
.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
who was forced to emigrate in 1977 to avoid arrest. She and her husband moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She was born in Yekaterinoslav.
The writer Yuli Daniel
Yuli Daniel
Yuli Markovich Daniel was a Soviet dissident writer, poet, translator and political prisoner.He frequently wrote under the pseudonyms Nikolay Arzhak and Yu. Petrov .-Early life and World War II:...
engaged Kaminskaya as his lawyer when, in December 1965, he was prosecuted with Andrei Sinyavsky
Andrei Sinyavsky
Andrei Donatovich Sinyavsky was a Russian writer, dissident, political prisoner, emigrant, Professor of Sorbonne University, magazine founder and publisher...
, but the state refused to allow her to speak up in court on his behalf. She went on to defend - as far as the Soviet authorities would let her in a legal system designed as an instrument of Soviet power - Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky is a leading member of the dissident movement of the 1960s and 1970s, writer, neurophysiologist, and political activist....
in 1967. She also defended Yuri Galanskov
Yuri Galanskov
Yuri Timofeyevich Galanskov was a Russian poet, historian, human rights activist and dissident. For his political activities, such as founding and editing samizdat almanac Phoenix, he was incarcerated in prisons, camps and forced treatment psychiatric hospitals ...
(who would die in a Soviet labour camp), Anatoli Marchenko (who would also die in camp), Larisa Bogoraz
Larisa Bogoraz
Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz was a dissident in the Soviet Union....
and Pavel Litvinov
Pavel Litvinov
Pavel Litvinov is a Russian physicist, writer, human rights activist and former Soviet-era dissident. He is the grandson of Maxim Litvinov, Joseph Stalin's foreign minister during the 1930s, and as such was born and raised amongst the Soviet elite...
, and the Crimean Tatar
Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...
activist Mustafa Jemilev.
Kaminskaya was prevented from defending Bukovsky in his 1971 trial and Sergei Kovalyov in 1975. In 1977, after being stripped of her license to practice as a lawyer, she was barred from defending Anatoli Shcharansky
Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky was born in Stalino, Soviet Union on 20 January 1948 to a Jewish family. He graduated with a degree in applied mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. As a child, he was a chess prodigy. He performed in simultaneous and blindfold displays, usually against...
.
Singer Yuly Kim estimated the efforts and honesty of Dina Kaminskaya and very few other defenders who insisted that there is no any criminal element in actions of their clients accused in the anti-soviet propaganda.
Kaminskaya's book Final Judgment: my life as a Soviet defense attorney, was published in English in 1982
The recent publication of Stars of Advocacy qualifies Dina Kaminskaya and Sofia Kallistratova as stars of the legal profession in Soviet Russia.
Kaminskaya was married to Konstantin Simis and they had one son, Dimitri K. Simes
Dimitri K. Simes
Dimitri K. Simes is a foreign policy analyst and author who serves as president of The Center for the National Interest and publisher of the foreign policy journal The National Interest. In the 1970s, Simes was a noted Kremlinologist analyzing Soviet politics...
. She died in Falls Church, Virginia
Falls Church, Virginia
The City of Falls Church is an independent city in Virginia, United States, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. The city population was 12,332 in 2010, up from 10,377 in 2000. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Anglican parish, Falls Church gained township status within...
.