Convicted Russian Jewish librarian Raiza Palatnik, earlier reported to be suffering from a paralyzed left arm, also has heart disease and is desperately ill, it was reported this weekend by the California Students for Soviet Jews and the Southern California Council for Soviet Jews. (Usually reliable Jewish sources in New York could not confirm the new report.) The two groups urged Southern Californians to “emulate Dunkirk” and save the 36-year-old Odessa librarian, who was sentenced recently to two years for alleged anti-Soviet activities. “She has never been given the necessary treatment to keep her well,” the groups charged.” Medical experts do not know whether she will survive her multi-year prison sentence.” CSSJ chairman Zev Yaroslavsky urged “a sophisticated campaign to call attention to Mrs. Palatnik’s plight.” He recommended telephone calls to the prisoner at the office of the Chief Prosecutor in Kiev; since she is not there, there will be no charge for the effort, “but the flood of telephone calls to the Kiev office of the Chief Prosecutor will level a blunt hint at the Soviet legal representative who will represent the government in Palatnik’s appeal…” That appeal was supposed to be heard Thursday, according to Jewish sources, but there has been no further word on it. Yaroslavsky gave the prosecutor’s phone number as 296-741.
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