Baird Professor of History Richard E. Pipes has been appointed by Russia's Constitutional Court to testify as an "official expert" at the current trial to outlaw the Russian Communist Party.

In written testimony submitted to the court, Pipes, a well-known anticommunist historian, said he cited historical examples to "confirm the judgment of [Russian President Boris] Yeltsin" that the Communist Party was not a real political party.

During its 70-year tenure in power, the Communist Party had acted unconstitutionally and committed crimes against the people of Russia, Pipes said.

The character of the party "wasn't an aberration under Stalin, but always true," Pipes added.

At the trial, which is currently ongoing in Moscow, former Communist Party officials have charged that Yeltsin broke the law last August and November by banning the Party and confiscating its property.

In an interview yesterday, Pipes, who coined the phrase "evil empire," said the "communists are definitely on the defensive" at the trial.

"They're trying to present themselves as boy scouts. It's rather ridiculous," he said. "The evidence is solidly on the side of the government."

Pipes said he thinks he will be the onlyforeigner to testify at the trial. The historianalso said he does not know when the trial willconclude.

Pipes said he had been collecting material inthe Russian archives for his new book, Russianarchives for his new book, Russia Under the NewRegime, a sequel to the Russian Revolution,when the trial's judges called to ask him totestify as an expert on the Communist Party.

Of his visit to post-communist Russia, Pipessaid that the atmosphere was "much pleasanter"than it had been in the past.

"It's poor, like a Third World country, butfree," he said.

Pipes said living conditions were better thanunder the former Communist regime. "It's a hardlife, but if you have dollars, you can live well,"he said