Yaacov Suslensky, a Soviet Jewish dissident who recently completed a seven-year sentence at “strict regime” labor camps, has been warned by Soviet authorities to be out of the Soviet Union by June 8 or face “unpleasant consequences.” But Suslensky refuses to leave without his 20-year-old daughter, Aya, who is seriously ill and has been denied permission to emigrate with him to Israel.
Suslensky, who is in his fifties and was an English teacher, related his case by telephone last week to a representative of Amnesty International here. He appealed for help to the worldwide organization that aids political prisoners. Suslensky said his daughter suffered from a form of diabetes that renders the victim susceptible to various infections. She was recently in a coma. Suslensky is divorced but his former wife gave permission for their daughter to emigrate. Suslensky’s 87-year-old mother plans to leave with them.
He was arrested in 1970 in Bendery in the Moldavia region near the Rumanian border and was sentenced to seven years for alleged “anti-Soviet activities.” He served time in a Moldavian strict regime camp, in the Perm camp in northern Russia and at the notorious Vladimir prison near Moscow. During his incarceration in Moscow he suffered a stroke which paralyzed him temporarily with loss of speech. He was released Jan. 29 after serving the full seven years.
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.
