Vladimir. a radio and television engineer. Maria. a physician. and their two sons. Aleksandr and Leonid. first applied to emigrate in 1970 to rejoin Marias mother in Israel. After 8 long years of refusals. the parents hung a banner on the balcony of their Moscow apartment proclaiming their plea to emigrate. For this act. Vladimir. a member of the Moscow Helsinki Monitoring Group. was convicted of "malicious hooliganism" and sentenced to serve a 5year term of internal exile. Maria. who received a suspended sentence. joined him in Siberia. where they lived under difficult conditions. Returning to Moscow in December 1982. Vladimir and Maria have continued their efforts to emigrate. now to rejoin their sons who were finally allowed to leave and the grandchildren they have never seen. Mr. Speaker. as Chairman of the Helsinki Commission which monitors Soviet compliance with the human rights provisions of the 1975 Helsinki accord. I feel a special affinity toward those Soviet citizens. like Vladimir Slepak. who took upon themselves the thankless task of monitoring their governments adherence to the Helsinki pledges. I know I speak for all members of the Helsinki Commissionand for many. many others in the Congresswhen I reaffirm our determination to continue our efforts until the human rights of the Slepaks and the thousands of Soviet Jews seeking to emigrate are finally respected. While I hope another Fast and Prayer Vigil for Soviet Jewry will not be necessary next year. I know that we are all prepared to come back year after year. if that is what is required. to convince the Soviet Government to allow freedom for Soviet Jews.*
Keywords matched
emigrate