Three former Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience urged the American public not to relax its campaign on behalf of Soviet Jews. They said they feared the recent increases in Soviet Jewish emigration would lull Americans into a false sense of victory, while in reality, more Jews than ever before are denied exit visas.
The three, Eduard Kuznetsov, Anatoly Altman and Wulf Zalmanson, spoke today at a press conference sponsored by the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) at the Carnegie Endowment Center here. The three are currently touring the U.S. on a mission designed to rally American public support to secure the release of losif Mendelevich, Yuri Federov and Aleksei Murzhenko, who have been in Soviet labor camps for more than 10 years. They are imprisoned for their part in the June 1970 attempt to hijack a Soviet airplane and fly to Israel.
Altman, Zalmanson and three other Jews were pardoned in April by Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev, while Kuznetsov was among a group of five prisoners exchanged by the U.S. for two Soviet citizens convicted of spying in New Jersey. Last week Kuznetsov, Altman and Zalmanson met in Washington with National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, Congressmen and other U.S. officials. They said Brzezinski promised the U.S. will increase its efforts on behalf of Soviet Jews.
SUBJECTED TO HARSH TREATMENT
In today’s press conference, Zalmanson said that Mendelevich, who is an Orthodox Jew, suffers more and is subject to harsher treatment because he refuses to abandon his religious practices. Although he was originally sentenced to a labor camp, he has been transferred to Chistopol Prison, which is known for its strict rules, Zalmanson said.
Kuznetsov pleaded on Behalf of Federov and Murzhenko, who are not Jewish, noting, in response to a question, that it released they will probably immigrate to Israel. Kuznetsov also charged that at least 16,000 Jews apply each month for permission to emigrate but only 4700 are usually granted exit visas.
Altman urged that continued efforts be taken to help Ida Nudel, who is in exile in Siberia, to regain her freedom, noting that she is now the only woman on the list of POCs. Brooklyn District Attorney Eugene Gold, chairman of the NCSJ, said the methods by which the three former POCs were released–pardons or exchanges — could be applied to all Jewish activists now imprisoned in the Soviet Union and that such a release would be very feasible at this stage of U.S.-USSR relations.
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