Soviet Embassy Refuses Letter from Mrs. Sharansky Delivered by 3 Congressmen in Washington

The Soviet Embassy today refused to accept a letter from Mrs. Anatoly Sharansky pleading for the release of her imprisoned husband. The letter, delivered by three leading members of Congress, was addressed to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and asked that Sharansky, who is facing treason charges, be released and allowed to emigrate to Israel.

Reps. John Anderson (R. III.), Robert Drinan (D. Mass.) and Benjamin Rosenthal (D.NY) handed the letter on behalf of the Jewish dissident to Embassy Counselor Viktor Sakovich. They also asked that American observers be present at the trial of Sharansky who is accused of complicity with two American Embassy officers in Moscow who also are Jewish.

Sakovich said that the request for observers was “premature” since Sharansky has not yet been formally charged and no trial date has been set. He contended that the Sharansky case is “an ordinary court procedure” and no one from outside the Soviet Union can intervene in it. “Could you do it here?” he asked the Congressmen.

Rosenthal responded that there is a difference between a criminal and a political trial. As a Congressman, he would not intervene in a criminal trial but in a trial stimulated for political purposes that has drawn world attention he would. Sakovich said that “outside” observers would be up to the trial judge. Rosenthal observed later that “He did not say ‘no.'”

Drinan emphasized to Sakovich that the American people, government and Congress consider the Sharansky case “a very grave matter which could threaten the continued improvement in Soviet-American relations.” Anderson pointed out that Sharansky is “a victim of persecution” of the Soviet government.

The Congressmen are members of the International Committee for the release of Anatoly Sharansky. Drinan is chairman of the American branch which includes 30 Congressmen and six Senators.