Plans are under way here to officially welcome the five Leningrad trial Prisoners of Conscience who were personally pardoned last week by Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev and released from prison more than a year before their 10-year terms were due to expire in June 1980.
The five who were imprisoned since June 1970 for their part in allegedly attempting to hijack a plane in Leningrad and fly it to Sweden are Vulf Zalmanson, 39, Hillel Butman, 45, Anatoly Altman, 36, Boris Penson, 33, and Leib Khnokh, 35. The five were told to leave the Soviet Union for Israel by April 30.
Still in prison for the same “crime” are Zalmanson’s in-law Eduard Kuznetsov, 38, Mark Dimshits, 51, Alexei Murzhenko, Yuri Fyodorov, and losif Mendelevich, 31. Dimshits, the intended pilot of the plane, and Kuznetsov originally were condemned to death, but the Soviets commuted their sentences to 15 years after a world outcry. Murzhenko recived a 14-year sentence and Mendelevich and Fyodorov were sentenced to 12 years.
According to some Western observers in Moscow, the Soviet move was timed as a gesture to the 17 American Congressmen who are visiting the USSR to discuss emigration, trade and strategic arms limitation. The delegation includes Charles Vanik (D.Ohlo), coauthor of the Jackson-Vanik amendment that ties trade credits to the easing of emigration policies by the Soviet Union. In a related development, Leonid Slepak, the younger son of Prisoners of Conscience Vladimir and Maria Slepak, his wife Olga and their infant son received an exit visa. Leonid, 19, will be joining his brother Alexander in the West.
Premier Menacham Begin intends to personally head the welcoming festivities at Ben Gurion Airport when the five men released reach Israel in a week or so. Sources close to Begin revealed over the weekend that he had discussed the Prisoners of Conscience issue with President Carter during his visit to Washington last month to sign the peace treaty with Egypt. The Premier met with relatives of the released men at his home in Jerusalem last night and hinted that he had hopes of further releases in the future.
Leon Dulzin, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive and the Brussels Conference on Soviet Jewry, issued a statement welcoming “this Soviet step…. I hope it will be followed by the release of all other Prisoners of Zion and by the granting of exit permits to the refusniks.” He congratulated the families of the freed men, most of whom are living in Israel, for their “courageous firmness during the long years of suffering.” He also sent a message of thanks and encouragement to all Soviet Jewry activists the world over “who worked of this moment.”
REACTIONS TO THE PARDONS
(In New York, Eugene Gold, chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, said “This is the first positive step we have seen regarding the prisoners.” He noted that although pardons are normally given after a prisoner admits guilt, none of the five men admitted culpability in any of the crimes for which they were convicted. ” For year we have insisted that the only real crime of the Jewish POCs has been their struggle to emigrate to Israel,” Gold said.
(Mervin Riseman, chairman of the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, said the release of the five POCs is an auspicious indication that the Soviet Jewry movement’s continuing efforts have been successful. He said that Solidarity Sunday for Soviet Jews on April 29 will be dedicated to securing the freedom of all those imprisoned or in exile becuase of their desires to emigrate.
(The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, while saying that the pardon of the five POCs is “a gesture that must be noted,” emphasized that ” the main focus of the Jackson-Vanik amendment — the actual process of emigration from the USSR — has become much more difficult, and the number of successful applicants is low. Other Prisoners of Conscience and long-term refusniks remain trapped in the USSR.”
(The SSS J pointed out that in several major Soviet cities there are enormous lines of would be Jewish exitees at visa offices who are given applications at “a deliberate snail’s pace” — in Kiev, over 2000; in Odessa, 1000; and in Minsk, over 2000. In Mogilev-Podolsk, it was reported that the visa office has posted a notice that no more applications would be taken this year.
(Harold Becker, chairman of the Soviet Jewry Committee of the American Jewish Congress New York Metropolitan Council, recalled that young Jewish artists associated with the AJCongress’ Martin Steinberg Center had “adopted” Penson. “We take heart from his release as we vow to continue our efforts in behalf of other Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience, ” Becker said.)
By happy coincidence, Penson’s release had been preceded by a few days by the publication, in Tel Aviv, of a book of more than 100 drawings and sketches that he did in prison. “Artist Behind Bars” is the name of the volume, put out by a leading Israeli publishing house.
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