ADL Welcomes Release of 59 Argentine Political Prisoners. Urges Action for Others Who Are in Prison

The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith today welcomed the release of 59 Argentine political prisoners. But the ADL called for prompt, decisive action for the thousands of others who have been imprisoned or have disappeared, with no word on their fate.

The ADL’s Argentine Prisoner Project, begun in 1977, has compiled a list of 1,200 individuals, most of them Jews, in whose behalf the agency works. Rabbi Morton Rosenthal, ADL’s Latin American Affairs Department director, said eight of those announced by the Argentine Embassy in Washington as having been released between March and July are from the Prisoner Project and two of these were allowed to emigrate to Israel. The ADL’s efforts to free political prisoners or clarify the status of the disappeared include a pamphlet describing individual cases and urging public action to secure their release.

One of those listed, Eduardo Grutzky, 24, who is among the 59 freed, arrived in Israel Aug. I. A university student when he was arrested in 1974, Grutzky was jailed for three years, and after completing his sentence was held under indefinite detention.

A supplement to the ADL Argentine Prisoner Project pamphlet to be issued soon highlights the plight of additional political prisoners, including Rafael Rey, 38, who has just been paroled. He and his wife, Juana, were abducted from their home in 1975 and then held despite a court order for their release. Juana Rey was allowed to emigrate to Israel in 1979. Her husband’s latest petition to go to Israel expires Oct. II, Rosenthal pointed out.

ADDITIONAL POLITICAL PRISONERS

Those listed in the ADL supplement in addition to Rafael Rey are:

*Gustavo Westerkamp — detained by the National Executive Power (PEN) and repeatedly denied option to leave Argentina. He was arrested when he reported for military training in 1976.

*Berta Horen — a sociology student who has been held without charges since 1978 when she completed a three-year sentence.

*Pablo Bohoslavsky — a professor of mathematics tried without benefit of counsel and detained since 1976.

*Jorge Enrique Arrieta — held in prison since 1976 without charges.

*Oscar E. Krilyzanosky — mistaken for a Jew because of his Polish last name, he was severely tortured. He has been in prison since 1976.

*Ruben Sergio Pra — charges dismissed in 1977, but he remains under PEN.

*Tiburcio Padilla — held without charges for more than five years.

*Mario Jaime Zaraceansky — numerous petitions for right of option to leave the country have been rejected and he remains in prison under PEN.