Speaker. today marks the 14th anniversary of the Leningrad trials. when 11 Soviet citizens were sentenced for planning to commandeer a plane and escape from the Soviet Union. Two were condemned to death. but due to the worldwide outcry. their sentences were commuted to hard labor. The trials remind us of the severe punishment facing those in the U.S.S.R. who seek to attain full cultural and religious freedom and to be allowed the opportunity to emigrate. Today. as we meet for a prayer vigil. we demonstrate our solidarity with those tried at Leningrad and with countless other Soviet Jews who continue to seek to express their own culture and religion. I would like to draw special attention to one of these families in the Soviet Union today. Abe Stolar. his wife Gita. and son Mikhall. Born in Chicago of Russian immigrant parents. in his teens. Abe Stolar went with his parents when they moved the family back to the Soviet Union in 1931. As a result of his history. he holds dual citizenship and currently carries with great pride an American passport. In 1974. Stolar. with his wife and son. applied for permission to emigrate to Israel. Permission was granted and the family received exit permits. However. immediately before boarding the plane. the family was detained on the pretext that Mrs.
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