Sixteen Jewish activists in three Russian cities began a hunger strike today to protest the denial of exit visas. The Jews, residents of Leningrad, Tblisi and Novosibirsk, sent a letter to President Nikolaf V. Podgorny, chairman of the Supreme Soviet, advising him that they will “protest against the Illegal retention of us in the USSR” on the anniversary today of the adoption of the Soviet Constitution, the National Conference on Soviet Jewry reported today. The letter stated that “The place of the hunger strike will be chosen according to our situation.
The NCSJ also reported today that 14-year-old Marina Temkin has been released from a pioneer youth camp at Tuapse, on the Black Sea, where she had been held for several months and is living with her divorced mother in Moscow, The girl was sent to the camp for indoctrination when she insisted on remaining with her father, Aleksandr, who had applied for exit visas for both of them to go to Israel. Her mother opposed her departure.
The girl will not be permitted contact with any of her father’s relatives or friends, the NCSJ reported. Aleksandr Temkin was permitted to leave for Israel last month.
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