 Linnas died of a heart attack in a Leningrad prison hospital on July 2, 1987 while waiting for a possible retrial in Gorbachevian courts, 25 years after Khrushchevian courts convicted him in absentia.The concepts of sanctuary and asylum are defined very similarly at their most basic level.Both terms involve the granting of safety or protection from some type of danger, often implied to be a persecuting, oppressive power.