A Soviet Jewish Petition
APPEALING TO BELGRADE A Soviet Jewish Petition (Following is the text-published here for the first time-of a letter sent by 81 Soviet Jews to the Belgrade conference on the implementation of the...
...The men convicted in the first and second Leningrad trials-mark Dymshitz, Eduard Kuznetsov, Wulf and Israel Zalmanson, Yury Federov, Leib Khnokh, Alek-sei Murzhenko, Iosif Mendelevich, Boris Penson, Hillel Butman, and Mikhail Kornblit-are still being held in the inhuman conditions of the Siberian and Mordovian camps...
...The signing by the heads of state of the Final Act at the [1975] Helsinki conference finally confirmed that the right of Jews to become united with their people can no longer be regarded as an internal affair of the USSR...
...We shall not tell you...
...We also insist that the maximum period of a refusal's validity for different degrees of secrecy be made known, as well as the conditions (based on law) that determine the possibility of emigration in cases not connected with considerations of State security...
...At the same time, a significant number of these invitations do not reach the addressees...
...However, many other Jews cannot follow their example...
...5. Complaints about refusals can now be submitted only to the administration authorities or the procurators...
...Nevertheless, the authorities find it possible to call up such individuals to the Army...
...All this is in direct contradiction to the international covenant on rights...
...It seems that as a rule they are simply ignored...
...Conclusion: We ask you to support our demand that an applicant who is turned down be given a written reply stating the concrete legal reason for the refusal, the term of delay or the conditions for emigration...
...Mark Nashpitz and Boris Tsilionok have been exiled for participating in a peaceful demonstration protesting arbitrariness and lawlessness in matters of emigration...
...Tula: Aleksandr Mogidovich...
...And at the present time many of those who have brought this truth to the attention of the world public, and aroused the interest and the compassion of the world toward Soviet Jews deprived of the opportunity of becoming reunited with their people, are being tormented in prisons and camps...
...Unfortunately, the right of Jews to repatriate is recognized, but it is not in any way guaranteed...
...Conclusion: In accordance with the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, we ask that the repatriation permit be granted upon the application of the person desiring to repatriate, without the necessity of submitting an invitation from relatives...
...The authorities dealing with emigration (the ovtr offices), are obliged to submit an inquiry to the parents themselves, but this is not done...
...We ask you to submit our demand for the release of all the prisoners of conscience from prisons, camps and exile...
...and for the dismissal iaf the so-called "Shcharansky case...
...Gorky: Mark Kovner...
...Your emigration is not in the interests of the State...
...1. Applications for repatriation are examined by the authorities only if an invitation from relatives in Israel is available...
...Your emigration contradicts the Helsinki Agreement...
...The position in the Soviet Army of a person wishing to emigrate is, of course, unnatural...
...In both instances they are examined without the participation of the person who submits them...
...3. We protest against the current practice of issuing refusals in verbal form, and explanations such as: "You yourself know what we know...
...At the time of the completion of this appeal, reports were received that a central Kiev newspaper had printed a false denunciation charging another activist of the Jewish emigration movement, Vladimir Kislik, with having committed especially grave crimes...
...Thus, the invitation requirement affords the authorities a convenient method of delaying or denying the right to repatriate even before applications have been processed...
...Many wait for a year, a year and a half until they finally receive the fifth or tenth invitation sent...
...APPEALING TO BELGRADE A Soviet Jewish Petition (Following is the text-published here for the first time-of a letter sent by 81 Soviet Jews to the Belgrade conference on the implementation of the Helsinki Agreement...
...Another activist of the Jewish emigration movement, Iosif Begun, was sentenced to two years in exile for teaching Hebrew...
...Conclusion: We ask you to support our demand that in the case of a refusal for reasons of "State security," the applicant should be given the right to become familiar with the determinations made by the authorities and to submit his objections...
...Through persistent struggle and the active support of all those who cherish justice and human rights, the Jews of the USSR had succeeded in having their right to emigrate recognized by the Soviet authorities...
...One must also bear in mind that persons wishing to repatriate are not allowed to take part in evaluations of their applications...
...In a number of cases invitations have been declared invalid because of "insufficiently close family relations...
...Conclusion: We ask you to support our demand that the following procedures be established: (a) After the completion of Army service, the opportunity for immediate emigration must be guaranteed, (b) A person seeking repatriation who has applied for renunciation of his Soviet citizenship should not be called up to serve in the Soviet Army...
...The following are the main features of the existing situation and our demands for the establishment of legal procedures in this field...
...Many other Jewish activists who have been convicted on fabricated false charges, including Isaak Shkolnik, Ilya Glezer, Amner Zavurov, and Sender Levin-son, also are still being held in prison camps and exile...
...Conclusion: Bearing in mind the Helsinki accord, we ask you to support our demand that an emigration applicant and the members of his family not be transferred to jobs with working conditions that are worse than the ones they enjoyed before the application was made, or dismissed from their positions...
...In recent years, more than 150,000 Jews have used this right and left the USSR...
...Persons who have reached the age of 18 or even elderly people spend years in this dependence, until the authorities feel the term of delay has been long enough and decide to find out if the parents do or do not (the usual case) have any material claims...
...Administrative arrests, surveillance, disconnection of telephones, dismissals from work, searches, questionings, house arrests and preventive imprisonments, blackmail, beatings, slanderous articles in the central press-all these kinds of repression are being used by the authorities against those who fight for free emigration of the Jews from the USSR...
...The repatriation of Soviet Jews is being accompanied by cruel repressions on the part of the authorities trying to suppress this movement...
...We do not see any reason for your leaving...
...This is our demand and we hope that you will support it...
...The same is true today...
...As a result, large numbers of people are being detained for undetermined periods without knowing why...
...Dear Sirs: We appeal to you knowing that you are determined to defend the necessity of observing the Helsinki Agreement in all its parts...
...Thirteen Jewish "refuseniks" from Moscow have been beaten up in a forest near Moscow for their attempts to receive written responses to their emigration applications that cite legal grounds for rejection, and two of them nearly paid for it by long prison terms...
...Consequently, a pattern of artificial dependence on the parents has been created and the authorities use it effectively...
...This activist, Anatoly Shcharansky, is being charged with treason to the motherland and spying-a terrible charge that could bring the death sentence...
...Tbilisi: Grigory Goldshtein, Isay Goldshtein, Elizabeta Bykova, Shalva Krikheli, Solomon Ginzberg, Emmanuil Kvaladze...
...In connection with the charge of treason, the court will deal with such matters as appeals to Soviet authorities and to the West concerning various aspects of emigration, meetings with foreign leaders who have shown an interest in the questions of Jewish repatriation, discussion of our problems with foreign correspondents, and any information about the arbitrary and and lawless treatment of Jewish repatriation that has reached the West...
...This demand is based on the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 2), binding the states that have ratified it to provide an effective legal means of defending civil and political rights...
...These "explanations" are changed when complaints are registered about a decision, and the process can go on for months...
...This enables the authorities to ignore the applicants' objections and to reject his complaints...
...We also insist that disputes concerning material claims be heard in court if a suit is lodged by any of the sides (at present the courts do not consider such disputes if the suit is brought by the person emigrating...
...The completion of a punishment term for refusing to serve in the Army does not exempt one from further call-ups...
...Lately, those who have received refusals in the past are being told they must renew all their application documents, including invitations, in order to reapply...
...4. Very often the authorities issue refusals because the parents of the applicant, objecting to the repatriation of their child or fearing for their own status, refuse to volunteer the required written statements about the absence of any material claims against the potential repatriate...
...7. During all the years of Jewish emigration, applying for repatriation has caused a considerable worsening in the social status of the applicant and of his family...
...Conclusion: To open the examination of his complaint to the applicant and secure his participation in its consideration, we ask you to support our demand that the refusal of a person's application for emigration be eligible for appeal in court...
...for the discontinuation of the harassment of Jewish activists...
...Complete arbitrariness in the field of repatriation, and the arrest of persons wishing to repatriate could really be considered insulting...
...Aleksandr Silnitsky and Anatoly Malkin, who refused to serve in the Army and refused to adopt the amoral position of a "Soviet soldier-Israeli citizen," continue to serve their sentences...
...Despite the stipulations of the Helsinki Final Act, the situation of the Jews in the USSR sharply contradicts the international legal agreements ratified by the USSR, and first and foremost, the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 12...
...The courts are not allowed by law to deal with complaints concerning matters of emigration...
...The appearance of this charge literally on the eve of the opening of the Belgrade conference demonstrates the complete unwillingness of the authorities to change their policy on emigration...
...At present a well-known activist of the Jewish emigration movement is being held in prison awaiting trial, following a slanderous denunciation by a provocateur...
...In addition, application for emigration is usually accompanied by dismissal from work...
...6. Conscription is being widely used by the authorities to restrict the repatriation of young people...
...Signed/ Moscow: Solomon Inditsky, Izabella Novikova, Vladimir Slepak, Aleksandr Lerner, Evgeny and Rimma Yakir, Dina and Iosif Beilin, Feliks Kander, Mark Novikov, Vladimir Shakhnovsky, Mark Belenkov, Leonid Menes, Redker, Lev Ulanovsky, Ida Nudel, Irina Brailovskaya, Eitan Finkelshtein, Natalia and Grigory Rosen-shtein, Iosif Ahs, Eduard Nizhnikov, Aleksandr Astro-nov, Yuly Kosharovsky, Evgenia Nepomnyashchaya, Anatoly Shvartsman, Mikhail Kremen, Sergey Ruzer, Valery Sorin, Evgeny and Iosif Tsirlin, Victor Maksi-menko, Veniamin Bogomony, Arkady Mai, Evgeny Lib-erman, Seidel, Yakov Rakhlenko, Vinya Belkina, Mark Spenser, Dmitry Shchiglik, Boris Brodsky, Arnold Kogan, Mark Lublinsky, Aleksandr Gvinter, Izrael Gurevich, Se-mion Yantovsky, Zakhar Tesker, Victor Elistratov, Boris Chernobyisky, Yakov Grichelnik, Ilya Tsitovski, Boris Feigin, Pavel Krivonos, Naum Kogan, Ilya Shaiber, Evgeny Kozhevnikov, Grigory Krasko, Yana Gudz, Lev Greiberg, Sergey Tuzhilin, Irina Gildengron, Khana Elin-son, Mark Glumel, Aleksandr German, Boris Braiter, Valery Faiermark, Aron Gurevich, Valery Lifshits, Larisa Vilenskaya, Mendeleev Oskar, Abram Knizhnikov, Evgeny Krestov...
...We must state it again: The authorities have created and are using a whole system of preventive measures designed to restrict repatriation and virtually deprive the majority of Jews of the opportunity to emigrate...
...Conclusion: We ask you to support our demand that the inquiry about material claims be promptly submitted to the applicant's parents by the emigration authorities...
...This makes it extremely difficult to pinpoint wrong conclusions, and permits any decision...
...that you consider the question of observing the humanitarian obligations taken on by the participating nations no less important than the other problems concerning cooperation and security...
...2. When the authorities deny the emigration permit for reasons of "State security," they do not say how long the refusal is to remain in force and often do not even indicate the specific cause: which member of the family and which activities of that member gave grounds for the refusal...
...During the six months that have passed since his arrest, it has become clear that the Shcharansky case is a new stage of the repressions and har-assments directed against all those who wish to emigrate and, ultimately, against the entire Jewish population of the USSR...
...Minsk: Lev Ov-sishcher...
...Now service in the Army forces the invocation of the secrecy clause, precluding the chance of emigration soon after discharge (cases of delay for 10-15 years are known...
Vol. 60 • November 1977 • No. 22
