On 16th November 1849, Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death for anti-government activities.
On 16th November 1849, Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death for anti-government activities. His sentence was later commuted to hard labour, and he spent five years in exile in Siberia. Classed as a "dangerous exile" he had his feet and hands chained together for the entire period of his imprisonment. He described his conditions: "In summer, intolerable closeness; in winter, unendurable cold. All the floors were rotten. Filth on the floors an inch thick; one could slip and fall ... We were packed like herrings in a barrel ... There was no room to turn around. From dusk to dawn it was impossible not to behave like pigs ... Fleas, lice, and black beetles by the bushel." He went on to become one of the greats of Russian literature, writing Crime & Punishment, The Idiot and The Gambler.