Born in 1947 in Pavlograd, USSR, by 1967−1969 he was compiling and distributing “Samizdat” brochures, where among other topics the free immigration of Soviet Jews into Israel was discussed . He was arrested in 1969, charged with anti-government and Zionist activity and sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment in the high security camps of the Gulag. His sentence was spent in the camps of Mordovia, Ural, Riazan, Perm and others. In the camps he took part in hunger strikes and other protest actions for the free emigration of Jews and their right to celebrate Jewish holidays. As a result of this behavior he was charged again with sabotage and Zionist activity and sentenced to another 3 years of imprisonment in the closed Vladimir Prison (Central). All together he spent 3 years in the high security camps and 4 years in prisons. Released in July 1976 in Dnepropetrovsk, he left for Israel in the same year.