Secretary of State George Shultz renewed his promise to Avital Shcharansky in Jerusalem yesterday that the U.S. government will continue to try to secure the release of her husband, Anatoly Shcharansky, from a Soviet prison.
Mrs. Shcharansky spoke to reporters after a 20-minute meeting with Shultz which she described as “good and friendly.” They had met nine months ago in Washington and Shultz took time out from his diplomatic talks to reassure her that the U.S. was still interceding on her husband’s behalf.
“The Americans have ways of doing something with the Russians … I don’t have to tell them what to do,” Mrs. Shcharansky said. But she expressed concern over her husband’s health, particularly the effects of the hunger strike he began at Chistipol prison last Yom Kippur which he ended only last January.
She said she had heard indirectly from her mother-in-law, Ida Milgrom, who visited Shcharansky at the prison this week, accompanied by his brother, Leonid Shcharansky. It was the first time in 18 months that he was allowed a visit by his family. “I am waiting to hear from her directly by a personal telephone conversation when I hope to obtain further details of their meeting and how she and Anatoly’s brother found him,” Mrs. Shcharansky said.
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