www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-2631208
There are plenty of other references. You can easily google them out...
I am so skeptical of people in power that I scare ME sometimes, but I think your representations of this particular guy are one sided, particularly your insinuations about his role in the Komsomol or whatever it was called. He was clearly working for change and an element of freedom and historical liberalization (before the commies took over the word “liberal”).