Andrei Sakharov has called Igor Ogurtsov "a symbol throughout the world of the struggle for human rights against arbitrariness and illegality." Today. many thousands of Russian Pentecostals have concluded they cannot carry on what they believe are Christian lives in their motherlandbecause of educational and professional discrimination. brutal beatings and imprisonment for their faith. Two Pentacostal familiesthe "Embassy 7" who have been claiming a grudged sanctuary in the American Embassy in Moscow for over a year nowtestify to the despera-. tion of many. This spring the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe published the names of 10.000 Soviet Pentecostals who are seeking to emigrate. some even formally renouncing their Soviet citizenship when their applications to emigrate are refused. Reports indicate that there is a new wave of repression. an increase in persecution. sweeping over believers in the. Soviet Union and in parts of Eastern Europe.
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