The National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) has just learned that long-term Kiev refusenik, Vladimir Kislik, was this week sentenced to three years in a labor camp. The charge on which he was convicted is thought to be “malicious hooliganism,” Article 206 of the Criminal Code, but this has not been confirmed.
Kislik was arrested on March 19 as he was leaving a Purim party and accused of allegedly “attacking a woman.” Fellow refuseniks and friends say that such a charge is absurd. The 46-year-old doctor of physics has been the target of constant KGB harassment since he applied to emigrate to Israel in 1973. Last year he served four weeks in jail for alleged “petty hooliganism.”
DETERIORATING CLIMATE REPORTED
Recent reports to the NCSJ illustrate the deteriorating climate for Jewish rights activists and refuseniks. In a private Leningrad apartment on May 17, a seminar on Jewish history was invaded by uniformed policemen and KGB agents. The seminar was dispersed and several of the participants arrested.
Some were interrogated for a few hours and later released; one was charged with “hooliganism” and sentenced to 12 days in prison. Refusenik Evgeny Lein was charged with “resisting a policeman.” He is awaiting trial in Leningrad prison.
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