Eduard Kuznetsov

Edward Samoilovich Kuznetsov
Native name	Эдуард Самойлович Кузнецов
Born	1939 Moscow
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Moscow State University
Occupation	writer
Known for	publishing samizdat, human rights activism, participation in the Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair and the Mayakovsky Square poetry readings
Movement	dissident movement in the Soviet Union

Edward Samoilovich Kuznetsov (Russian: Эдуа́рд Само́йлович Кузнецо́в, Hebrew: אדוארד קוזנצוב‎‎; born in Moscow, 1939) is a Soviet-born dissident, human rights activist, Prisoner of Zion and writer who settled in Israel in 1979.

Kuznetsov was born in 1939. He studied at the philosophy department of Moscow State University.

While at university, Kuznetsov became involved with the first unsanctioned samizdat (self-published) magazines. In 1958-61, he co-edited the underground literary journals Sintaksis and Boomerang, and helped compile the samizdat poetry anthology Phoenix.

In 1961, Kuznetsov was arrested and tried for the first time for his involvement in publishing samizdat, and for making overtly political speeches in poetry readings at Mayakovsky Square in central Moscow. Among those also attending these informal gatherings were Yuri Galanskov, Vladimir Osipov and, the youngest of all, Vladimir Bukovsky. Kuznetsov was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

Following his release in 1968, Kuznetsov became one of the organizers of the Leningrad plane hijackers or Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair in June 1970. Arrested for "high treason," he faced the death sentence but after lodging an appeal and international protests against his execution his sentence was replaced with fifteen years in prison and labour camp. This case "opened the doors of emigration to thousands of Soviet Jews." In the 1970s Kuznetsov shared a prison cell with Danylo Shumuk for five years.

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