Suslensky Released from Prison

Prisoner of Conscience Yaakov Suslensky, from the town of Bendery, was released from a Soviet prison after serving a seven-year term, the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry reported here today. Suslensky was sentenced for spreading anti-Soviet literature and what the Soviet authorities termed as intent to undermine the Soviet regime. The NYCSJ also reported that Suslensky, who is back in Bendery, suffers from a heart condition.

In 1968 he wrote an open letter condemning both the hanging of nine Jews in Baghdad and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Together with his friend Iosif Mishener who is now also a prisoner, Suslensky drafted an appeal to the UN denouncing Soviet denial of human rights. Both were arrested and Suslensky’s trial began Oct. 19, 1970 behind of closed doors. Mishener was sentenced to six years in jail.

ZAVUROV TRANSFERRED TO UZBEKISTAN CITY

Meanwhile, the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) has learned that Soviet Jewish activist Amner Zavurov has been transferred to the city of Karshi in the Uzbekistan SSR where an appeal will be made on his behalf. Zavurov was sentenced last month for being without an internal passport, without a job and disorderly conduct. His internal passport had been taken away by the Soviet authorities when he had finished his application process for an exit visa to Israel in the fall of 1975.

At his trial, Zavurov was defended by a court appointed lawyer though his family had secured counsel. Zavurov’s personal lawyer is expected to appeal the case in Karshi, though he has yet to receive permission to travel to Karshi to examine and review Zavurov’s file. “It seems that the Soviet authorities are apparently re-examining Zavurov’s case due to the severe reaction in the western world,” said Eugene Gold, NCSJ chairman.