201 CHRONICLESnMarchenko again addressed Rekunkov, writing that thenpunitive use of. hunger, cold, beatings, and drugs had turnednhim into an “invalid.” All of his protests, he added, had beennignored by the prison administration, which was continuingn”to beat me to death.”nRefusing to give in, Marchenko announced a hungernstrike on August 4, demanding an end to the constant abusenof prisoners, an official inquiry into his 1983 beating, andnpermission to see his family. In a letter addressed to thenVienna Conference on the Observance of the HelsinkinAccords, he gave examples of arbitrary punishments andncriticized the Soviet government for considering the issue ofnhuman rights as “entirely an internal affair.” The situationnwas truly bad: One week later, Mark Morozov, 55, physicistnand computer specialist held under Article 70, died innChistopol Prison of a “heart attack.”nIn September thousands of letters, telegrams, and petitionsnfor Marchenko poured in to the Soviet authorities fromnAmnesty International’s 3,600 groups in 60 countries. OnnOctober 5, the newly freed Yury Orlov arrived in New YorknCity from out of his Siberian exile and dedicated his first daynof freedom to Marchenko. “This is Anatoly Marchenkonday,” he told the cheering crowd.nBut in Chistopol, the treatment of Marchenko worsened.nOn October 8 or 9, he was thrown into the “cooler,”ndeprived of heat, warm clothing, bed clothes, mattress,nreading materials, letters, writing utensils. Such treatmentnwas unspeakably brutal for a man who had endured over twonmonths of fasting.nThe world was presented a more generous picture ofnSoviet treatment at this time. Irina Ratushinskaya, serving anterm under Article 70 for her poetry, suffering from highnblood pressure, kidney trouble, and malnutrition, was releasednfrom the Women’s Political Zone of MordoviannCamp ZhKH-395/3-4 and permitted to fly to London fornmedical treatment. This happy news and the surge ofngoodwill that it unleashed were transmitted worldwide onntelevision screens on the eve of the Reykjavik Summit.nAt that summit, President Reagan handed GeneralnSecretary Gorbachev an appeal for the release of Sovietnprisoners of conscience. Marchenko was the most pressingncase on the long scroll.nMore than a month later, on November 21, LarisanBogoraz was contacted by the KGB and told to fill out exitnvisas for herself, Anatoly, and their 13-year-old son Pavel tonemigrate to Israel. Receiving the impression that Anatolynhad not agreed to this move, she asked for a meeting, butnwas put off. As to his health, she was told: “Marchenko isnfeeling wonderful.” Three days later she met again with thenKGB and repeated her request to see Anatoly. Again shenwas promised an answer. But it never came, so she did notnfill out the forms.nIt is now believed that on November 25-26, officials fromnMoscow paid a visit to Marchenko in Chistopol prison.nThere are indications that he broke his fast on the latter day.nOnly one thing could cause Marchenko, a man of unbendingnprinciple, to call off the strike: the promise to meet hisndemands. It is therefore reasonable to beheve thatnMarchenko was told that the problem of political prisonersnin the Soviet Union would be resolved.nNothing of this event reached the press at that time.nnnInstead, reports of the offer to free Marchenko suggestednthat his case was settled, if only he would agree to leave. Anpostcard from him requesting a food package, dated Novembern28, was sent to Bogoraz, indicating that he was alive andnpreparing to recover. But on December 9, she received ancurt telegram from Chistopol Prison: “Your husbandnMarchenko Anatoly Tikhonovich expired in the hospital.nPromptly inform the possibility of your arrival. Akhmadeyev.”nThe message, she said later, struck her “straight innthe heart.” She made ready at once to travel to Chistopol.nThe next day was Human Rights Day. Soviet officialsnblocked off Pushkin Square and held a news conference innMoscow—a preview of the 1987 fake “peace demonstration.”nForeign Ministry spokesman Boris Pyadyshev gaventhe cause of Marchenko’s death as “brain hemorrhage afterna long illness.” At the same meeting Andrei Sakharov wasncharacterized as a criminal and his exile justified as entirelynlegal.nIn Vienna, at the conference to which Marchenko hadnappealed, the American delegation proposed a minute ofnsilence to honor Marchenko. This was one minute too longnfor the Soviet side, which walked out in protest. When itnreturned, Yury Kashlev, Soviet Chief of Humanitarian andnCultural Affairs, accused American Ambassador WarrennZimmerman of trying to wreck the conference.nIn Washington, President Reagan held a ceremony in thenWhite House with Natan Shcharansky and Yury Orlov.nMarchenko was recalled as “a martyr who died for the causenof human rights in the Soviet Union.”nIn Chistopol, Larisa Bogoraz came to the prison gatesnwith her son and seven friends. She was granted but a singlenmeeting with the prison physician, who gave the cause ofnMarchenko’s death as acute heart and lung failure due tondystrophy of the myocardia. This means, literally, anninsufficiently nourished heart. This diagnosis was consistentnwith death caused by the hunger strike. The neuropathologistnfrom the city hospital, however, made a diagnosis ofn”cerebral thrombosis,” which is more consistent with deathnas a result of beatings. Questioned about Marchenko’sncondition prior to his death, the prison political directornreplied laconically: “He sometimes got up.” This remarkntold the real story about a man said to be “feelingnwonderful.”nBogoraz and the others were not permitted to visit thenbody. Nor was she permitted to transport it to Moscow fornburial. It was held under guard by three agents of the secretnpolice until the next morning, when a church service andnfuneral were allowed in Chistopol.nA bus was made available to the assembly, closelynattended by a car of officials and plainclothes policemen.nWith difficulty the group of nine managed to wrest the plainnpine coffin from the officials and carry it into the bus. Atnthe Russian Orthodox Church, the casket was opened.nMarchenko was very thin, with a partial beard and sunkenncheeks. One report said purple bruises were visible on hisnbody. For the service small icons were draped across hisnchest. Afterwards, the coffin was transported to a cemeterynin the country. The burial was stark and bleak. Widow, son,nand friends bore the plain pine box against a stiff wind to anpit opened in the frozen ground. They lowered it in a sheetnand tossed in handfuls of earth as the officials stood by andn