Yuri Tarnopolsky, a 47-year-old chemist, is scheduled to go on trial June 29 for “anti-Soviet slander,” the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews learned today. The Jewish activist from Kharkov was arrested on March 17. He had been seeking a visa to emigrate to Israel.
His daughter, Irina, wrote to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov on June 1, appealing for her father’s release and permission for the family to emigrate. The letter, made public by the Tamopolsky family, reminded Andropov that he had responded sympathetically to a letter from a 10-year-old American girl, Samantha Smith, urging nuclear disarmament.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.