Mr. President. three prominent Moscow Jewsa chemical engineer. a sinologist. and an artisthave been on a hunger strike since February 15. Each has been trying for several years to get permission to emigrate to Israel. Each has been continually denied permission by the Soviet authorities. The three have resorted to the dramatic action of a hunger strike to protest the arbitrariness of Soviet emigration practices in denying them exit visas. David Azbel. a chemical engineer who is the spokesman for the hunger strikers. is long familiar with suffering at the hands of Soviet authorities. He had been sentenced to 5 years in prison during the Stalin regime. While in prison. in desperation over his situation he went on a hunger strike for 10 days. As a punishment. he was sentenced to an additional year in prison for each day of the hunger strike: a total prison term of 15 years. Soon after he applied to emigrate to Israel in May 1972. he was dismissed from his post as professor and head of an Institute of Chemical Spirits and Organic Products. Once again. 30 years later. he has embarked on a hunger strike as a means of protest. Vitaly Rubin. a specialist in ancient Chinese philosophy and political thought. was forced to leave his post at the Moscow Institute for Oriental Studies as punishment for his having applied to emigrate to Israel. His wife. a former teacher of German at the Academy of Sciences. has also not been allowed to work since 1972. Vladimir Galatsky. an artist. has not been allowed to participate in any exhibition of paintings in the Soviet Union since 1962. when Nikita Khrushchev criticized his work and those of other artists for its "nonconformity." Galatsky applied to emigrate in March 1973. and was refused without any specific reason given. On the third day of the hunger strike. the Soviet authorities disconnected the telephone in the apartments of the participants and at least 10 other key Moscow Jewish activists. This action was taken as retaliation for the hunger strike and as a means to isolate them from newsmen and sympathizers in the West.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visas