Jewish activists in Moscow have accused the Soviet authorities of trying to achieve a “final solution” of the Jewish emigration problem by issuing visas to selected activists but denying them to others who are regularly harassed, threatened with prosecution or actually arrested and held for trial on unspecified or dubious charges.
The accusation was made by a group of 16 Jewish activists who met yesterday with Western journalists in Moscow, according to the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. They indicated that the strategy apparently is aimed at splitting the hard-core activists and intimidating other Jews from seeking exit visas.
A statement distributed to foreign newsmen cited the cases of two activists. Mark Nashpitz and Boris Tsitlionok who were among seven demonstrators arrested outside the Lenin Library in Moscow Feb. 24 for protesting the denial of visas. While the others were either released or given brief jail terms for “hooliganism,” Nashpitz and Tsitlionok were held for trial.
The charges against them were unspecified until this week when they were formally charged under Art. 190/3 of the Soviet Penal Code for “the organization or active participation in group actions disturbing public order.” They will go on trial in a few days and face prison terms of up to three years.
10 RECEIVE EXIT VISAS
At the same time, however, exit visas were granted to 10 “hard core” activists. They were identified as Mikhail Polotsk, Vladimir Davidov, Yaacov Schwartzman and Mikhail Agursky, all of Moscow; Anatoly Schwartzman and another activist, surnamed Valin of Kishinev; Leonid Lotvin and Yacov Vinkovetsky of Leningrad; Valery Buiko of Riga; and Yuli Brind, of Kharkov, who was just released from a forced labor camp. The Moscow activists said in their statement that the selection of these men for visas was a “smoke screen” thrown up by the Soviet authorities to conceal their repression of other Jews.
The statement disclosed that three other activists were summoned to KGB (secret police) headquarters in Moscow this week and warned that they faced arrest and trial. One of them, Prof. Alexander Luntz, a scientist, was threatened with prosecution under Art, 64 of the Penal Code which relates to treason and carries the maximum penalty of death.
The other two, Anatoly Sharansky and Leonid Tsipin, were advised that they might be charged under Arts, 190 and 70 respectively. The latter covers anti-Soviet agitation. A KGB official allegedly told them: “We can do what we like; the West no longer supports you,” the NCSJ reported.
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.
