The timing of the trialwhile Secretary of State Vance was meetng in Geneva with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko to discuss SALT IIwas then interpreted as a rebuke to President Carters human rights policies. Shcharansky dedicated himself to monitoring Soviet compliance with the Helsinki accords signed in 1975 by the Soviet Union. the United States. and many other nations. His sole intent was to assure the rights of his countrymen to emigrate from the Soviet Union. In part. his meetings with Western parties concerned about Soviet barriers to the emigration of Jews and other groups made Shcharansky a victim of the abuses he tried to correct. Both Sakharov and Shcharansky possessed three outstanding qualities in their quest to eliminate human rights suppression in the Soviet Union: outspoken courage. dedication to a righteous cause. and forceful perservance. As long as the Soviet system remains "closed" in nature. the world will scrutinize closely human rights suppression in the Soviet Union and the works of both Andrei Sakharov and Anatoly Shcharansky will not be forgotten.
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emigrate emigration