[1]: 269 [2]: 632 In September 1965, writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel were arrested and accused of having published anti-Soviet material in foreign editorials.
While most Russian critics of the trial emphasized issues of conscience and creative freedom, a small minority headed by mathematician Alexander Esenin-Volpin took another position.
They were convinced that legitimate criticism should focus on the fact that the proceedings were not in adherence to existing law, specifically to the provisions guaranteeing an open trial.
[1]: 275 [5]: 19–20 The idea of such a "glasnost meeting" did find support among small circles of high school and university students such as Irina Yakir, Yuri Galanskov, Yuliya Vishnevskaya, and Vladimir Bukovsky, who learned of the plan through the informal networks of the Moscow intelligentsia.
Citizens have a means for struggle against judicial arbitrariness—a “glasnost meeting” during which those who gather will project a single slogan: “We demand an open trial for .
(followed by the names of the accused).” Any other phrases or slogans going beyond the demand for strict observance of the law will be absolutely detrimental and possibly serve as a provocation and should be cut short by the meeting’s participants themselves.
In fact, only people with special passes approved by the KGB were allowed to enter the court building, and the proceedings and records remained closed to foreign observers.
Similarly, the spontaneous, uncensored production and circulation of the "Civic Appeal" was one of the first uses of informal networks of text-sharing, later called "samizdat", for political purposes.
[5]: 147–150 The "legalist" approach of demanding that existing laws and guaranteed rights be observed by the state was taken up by subsequent dissident figures.
So-called defenders of rights (pravozashchitniki or zakonniki) avoided moral and political commentary in favor of close attention to legal and procedural issues.