In one of the most heavily-endorsed appeals to emerge recently from the USSR, 163 leading refusniks from 13 cities have declared that the "situation in which would-be emigrants are brought to utter despair by being constantly refused–quite illegally–for many years, can no longer be tolerated." The text was addressed to all heads of nations which signed the Helsinki Agreement, the U.S. Congress and its Helsinki Commission, and the British Parliament, according to the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and Union of Councils for Soviet Jews.
The signers stated that the Soviet practice of oral denials of emigration "without a time limit to the refusal and without any legal basis are a direct violation of the spirit and letter of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified and signed by the USSR in 1976.
"We emphatically insist that all those illegally prevented from leaving shall be quickly given permission; alternately, they should be given formal statements in writing with the official, legal reasons for refusal, and stating the period of time the refusal will stay in effect, in accordance with existing laws and regulations," the appeal stated.
Signers include Vladimir Slepak, Profs. Alexander Lerner and Mark Azbel, Dina Beilina and Ida Nudel of Moscow, Felix Aronovich and Alexander Yampolsky of Leningrad, Dr. Eitan Finkelstein of Vilnius, Grigory Hess and Lev Ovsisher from Minsk, Vladimir Kislik of Kiev, Yuri Berkovsky of Novosibirsk, Yaakov Gordin of Riga, the Goldstein family of Tibilisi, and Benor Gurfel of Tallin.
CONGRESSMEN PROTEST ARRESTS
In a related development, the SSSJ reported that 12 New York City area Congressmen have joined 17 colleagues in cabling protests to Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin over the arrests of Yuri Orlov and Alexander Ginzburg of Moscow, leaders of the unofficial Helsinki Agreement "watchdog committee." The committee has two Jewish refusnik members, Vladimir Slepak and Anatoly Sharansky, both reported under greatly increased KGB pressure.
The telegrams stated that the arrests and harassments "violate the spirit and letter of the Helsinki accords which both our governments signed in good faith. We would like our two countries to meet in Belgrade with a positive record of compliance and cooperation in all spheres of the Helsinki Final Act."
The dozen representatives are: Herman Badillo, Mario Biaggi, Thomas Downey, Hamilton Fish, Jr., Edward Koch, Richard Ottinger, Frederick Richmond, Benjamin Rosenthal, James Scheuer, Stephen Solarz, Theodore Weiss and Ben Gilman. The telegrams were initiated by the office of Rep. Jonathan Bingham, a member of the Congressional Helsinki Commission.
36 SENATORS CAUTION BREZHNEV
Meanwhile, 36 U.S. Senators have cautioned Brezhnev that continued imprisonment of Amner Zavurov, an Uzbekistan Jew who sought to emigrate to Israel, "will only cause new strain in Soviet relations with the rest of the world."
In a letter protesting "the unjust (three-year) prison sentence" against Zavurov, the Senators wrote Brezhnev: "We appeal to you on humanitarian grounds to release Zavurov immediately and finally allow him to emigrate to Israel." The letter was written by Sen. Abraham Ribicoff (D.Conn.) and co-signed by 35 of his colleagues from both parties.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
