At her trial in August 1980, Velikanova refused to defend herself, stating: "by participating in this trial, I would be collaborating in an unlawful act. I respect the law, and therefore, I refuse to take part in this trial." When the verdict was handed down, Velikanova commented: "The farce is over. So that's that." She had been sentenced to four years in prison camp, followed by five years of exile. Velikanova spent her camp term in Mordovia, east of Moscow, and in 1984 was sent into internal exile in western Kazakhstan. An account of Velikanova's time in the Mordovian camps can be found in "Grey Is the Color of Hope", written by fellow prisoner Irina Ratushinskaya. In December 1987 Gorbachev offered an amnesty to the last two women prisoners still serving a sentence under Article 70 (Anti-Soviet Agitation and Propaganda).Velikanova turned it down, demanding that she be rehabilitated and absolved of any crimes.. Like a number of other political prisoners Velikanova refused to agree to such conditions, and she served her full term of exile. In late 1989 Sergei Kovalyov, Tatiana Velikovanova and Alexander Lavut were interviewed about their dissident activities for the seven-part "Red Empire" TV series (Central TV), fronted by Robert Conquest. Unfortunately, Granite Productions (CEO Simon Welfare, series director Gwyneth Hughes), the company which made the film, destroyed the tapes of this interview. Naturally, the recording ran for many minutes, and was much longer than the short excerpt which showed the three chatting round Alexander Lavut's kitchen table. Kovalyov subsequently became a familiar figure on Russian TV as the country's first Human Rights Ombudsman and a member of successive convocations of parliament (Supreme Soviet, State Duma). Velikanova and Lavut lived the rest of their lives, known only to a few, and died in comparative obscurity. After her return to Moscow late in 1988, she took up work in the School 57, teaching math and Russian language and literature. She died on 19 September 2002.