Maria Slepak, wife of the Moscow Jewish activist, Vladimir Slepak, has disclosed that she took the “extreme step” of divorcing her husband in the hope she and her son, Leonid, 17, could apply separately for exit visas to Israel, but the effort failed, the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry has reported.
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Conference, said Mrs. Slepak disclosed the strategy of desperation in an appeal to “The Jewish Communities of the World,” in which she urged the communities to “raise your voice, remember that there is a place on our planet where a human being is denied his human rights.”
The Slepaks have repeatedly been denied permission to emigrate for the past six years and have been victims of constant harassment. Hoenlein said Soviet officials have claimed that Slepak possessed secret information, despite the fact that he has been jobless for eight years. Slepak is an electronics expert.
One of the reasons for the decision for the divorce, according to the Conference, is that at the end of this year, Leonid will be drafted into the Soviet army despite a liver condition and would face arrest and trial for “draft evasion” if he refused to serve.
DIVORCE REJECTED AS NOT REAL
But Andrei Verein, chief of the Moscow ovir (visa) office, said the divorce would not help the Slepaks. While the divorce was officially recognized by the Moscow courts, the mother and son were denied exit permits on the grounds that the divorce “was not a real one,” according to the Conference. In 1975, the Conference said, Verein told Slepak that “20 years ago, we would have shot you. Now we cannot afford to, so be content you are still alive.”
In her appeal, Mrs. Slepak said not even the divorce had any effect on Soviet administrative bodies and that she and her son “have again been denied the leaving.” She added: “Brothers and sisters, I need your help badly, desperately and I appeal to your hearts and your conscience. I beg you to help me and my son.” Hoenlein said special efforts were underway to help the Slepak family.
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