I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls lately from people asking me to comment on the exchange of the Russian spies for … other Russian spies. Just in this one fact alone you can feel the obvious idiocy of the situation. They exchanged one group of Russians for another, with all parties feeling pretty happy about how well the trade worked out. The first thing I was asked about was why Igor Sutyagin, a political prisoner whose case I have followed closely, was forced to sign an admission of guilt in order to be pardoned. Если Вы хотите прочитать оригинал данной статьи на русском языке, нажмите сюда. To the best of my understanding, Sutyagin’s “confession” for both sides was a highly notional and formal matter. And for a very long time, Igor stood firm in his refusal to go along with this Faustian bargain, and confess to crimes that he did not commit. (The same goes for Mikhail Khodorkovsky, by the way.) During my time as a prisoner of conscience, I too did not take them up on this offer: this is a question of principle for every innocent person. In my experience, which I assume is similar to that of Sutyagin, Khodorkovsky, and dozens of others, the refusal to admit guilt for false crimes is the one thing that grants the prisoner strength and resolve – it’s about the only exercise of power left to you. The chekists will never understand this.