Human rights defender Yefrem Yankelevich has died

The death has been announced in Moscow of human rights defender Yefrem Yankelevich who was for many years authorized representative of Andrei Sakharov. It was Yelena Bonner, Sakharov widow, who informed the press – her words are given below. Yefrem Yankelevich died of a heart attack on the morning of 28 January. He was 58.

Yelena Bonner:

“Yefrem Yankelevich was in a formal capacity Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov’s authorized representative for many years. Informally, he was his closest colleague and associate. I couldn’t name a single person who knew and understood Andrei Dmitrievich’s worldview and perception better and more deeply than Yefrem.  Andrei Dmitrievich always treated Yefrem’s judgments very seriously, as he did his opinion on various issues that concerned them both equally strongly.  Several times Yefrem was able to convince and restrain Andrei Dmitrievich from making a wrong decision or wrong actions. And as for how Yefrem knew everything that Andrei Dmitrievich had written or said in numerous interviews, there was nowhere, and probably will never be anybody to equal him. And all that despite the fact that Yefrem was not part of our generation, but that of our children. It’s sad when people of my generation pass away. It is doubly hard and somehow unfair when the life of those close to us from our children’s generation is cut short.