Speech #530132398

I rise today to join my colleagues who are participating in the Second Congressional Fast and Prayer Vigil for Soviet Jewry. The fast and prayer vigil marks the 14th anniversary of the infamous and notorious Leningrad trials. which due to the imprisonment of 11 Soviet dissidents. 9 which were Jewish refuseniks. brought international attention on Soviet human rights violations. Soviet Jewish emigration has declined 98 percent since 1979 when 51.320 Jews were allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Since the rule of SecretaryGeneral Chernenko. the monthly Jewish emigration totals have plummeted to 88 in January. 90 in February. 51 in March. and 74 in April 1984. In addition to the denial to emigrate. Soviet Jews face antiSemitic campaigns which are officially sanctioned. not to mention the added harassment of those who wish to protest the policy and are often imprisoned or exiled internally. On this special and very important day. I wish to bring to the attention of my colleagues and the authorities of the Soviet Union the plight of three families that I am sponsoring. the Boris Ghinis family. the Mikhail Kazanovich family. and the Antanas Vausa family. These three families. two of whom are Jewish and the other of Lithuanian descent. have all had to endure hardships in their plight to emigrate. They all have been denied emigration for years and I want it to be known that Soviet human rights violations affect a crosssection of Soviet citizens who wish to emigrate. These intolerable policies of the Soviet Union are abhorred by all of us in the free world. It is important for us to continue to speak out against these policies until the Soviet Union adheres to the international treaty obligations it committed itself to and respects the human rights of all its citizens.o