Representatives of the New York Medical Committee on Soviet Jewry and the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry met yesterday with World Health Organization officials including Dr. Stavios Malafotopoulos, director of W.H.O, liaison officer at the UN, to discuss the case of Soviet Jewish endocrinologist Dr. Mikhail Stern. The group asked W.H.O. to plead Dr. Stern’s case with Soviet medical authorities and to bring it to other United Nations humanitarian groups.
The meeting marked the first time that W.H.O officials have met with any Jewish representatives on behalf of Dr. Stern. Dr. Stern has been sentenced to eight years at hard labor for trumped up bribery charges.
The meeting resulted from a demonstration Monday at the UN by wives of members of the NYMCSJ. They brought with them a live chicken, three pounds of apples, a dozen eggs and a blank check to dramatize the nature of the charges against Dr. Stern. They offered to reimburse the Soviet Union for the items that the 56-year-old physician was accused of accepting: 770 rubles, one chicken, two geese, 70 eggs and three barrels of apples.
Following the meeting, Dr. Samuel Korman, chairman of the NYMCSJ declared: “We are pleased that World Health Organization representatives have met with us so that we could convey our official concern to this body, We hope that our appeals on Dr. Stern’s behalf will be transmitted to the appropriate bodies.” Meeting with Dr. Malafotopoulos were Dr. Korman, Malcolm Hoenlein, director of the GNYCSJ, and Margy-Ruth Davis, coordinator of the NYMCSJ. The NYMCSJ is an affiliate of the GNYCSJ.
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