Anatoly Shcharansky’s wife appealed to President Francois Mitterrand to intervene “to try and stop in time this tragedy: this murder.” Avital Shcharansky said that according to the latest reports from Moscow her husband, who has been on a hunger strike since September 27, is rapidly losing his last remaining strength and is now on the verge of death.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, Mrs. Shcharansky said that the Chistipol prison authorities, where the Jewish activist is detained, have refused to let his mother, Ida Milgrom, see him “because of his deplorable condition.”
The French Committee for Anatoly Shcharansky’s Liberation announced that they have asked to meet Soviet Research Minister Vladimir Martchuk who is on an official visit in France. They want to ask him to transmit a message to Soviet Communist Party leader Yuri Andropov calling for the Soviet Jewish militant’s immediate release. Shcharansky is currently serving a 13-year prison sentence on charges of treason and espionage.
REPORT SHCHARANSKY IS BEING FORCE FED
(In New York, the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and Union of Councils for Soviet Jews reported that the commandant of Chistipol prison told Mrs. Milgrom and her other son, Leonid, that Anatoly was being force fed every three days. Both Mrs. Milgrom and Leonid had received written authorization to visit Anatoly on January 4, the first time in a year. But when they reached the prison, some 500 miles from Moscow, the commandant refused to let them see him, the two Soviet Jewry groups said.)
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