Speech #930045849

From the early 1960s on. Mikhail was deeply concerned with the fate of the Jews in the Soviet Union. In 1965. he decided to emigrate to Israel and become involved with the Jewish activist movement in Riga. He believes that his arrest on October 15. 1970. is directly related to his formal application for an exit visa. But. after paying $3.000 in ransom taxes. Mikhail and his mother were permitted to leave for Israel where he plans to enter the Technion to complete his masters degree in aeronautics. This ransom tax that Mr. Shepshelovich was forced to pay before being granted permission to leave the Soviet Union is ample reason why we must continue our efforts to push for the JacksonVanik amendment to provide for freedom of emigration as a condition to EastWest trade. The only hope of permanantly rescinding the tax and removing all other impediments to emigration is if massive political and economic pressure can be mounted in the West. This is what we. as Members of Congress must do. to stop this barbaric ransom of humans. At this time I would like to insert into speech presented by Mikhail Shepshelovich who was recently in the United States under the auspices of the Greater New York Conference for Soviet Jewry to participate in the Solidarity Sunday for Soviet Jewry.