The mothers of two Soviet Jewish activists, Boris Tsitlionok and Mark Nashpitz and the son of Dr. Mikhail Stern ended today their three-day hunger strike at the Isaiah Wall in front of the United Nations. Batya Tsitlionok and Itta Nashpitz protested the sentences last week in which their sons were given five years in exile. August Stern protested the sentencing of his father–a physician who was accused of accepting bribes from patients–to eight years at hard labor.
The two mothers ended their hunger strike before noon today and reportedly went to Washington to continue their struggle on behalf of their sons and other oppressed Jews in the USSR. According to August Stern, who was standing alone today in front of the UN in chilling weather, the three received many calls of support from all over the U.S. Stern said that he will leave New York today to go to Canada and from there to Washington in order to meet with officials and supporters who will hopefully help him to obtain the release of his father. The hunger strike was coordinated by the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry.
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