Mr. Speaker. today. I join with a number of my colleagues in observance of the third anniversary of the arrest of Anatoly Shcharansky. a Jewish emigration activist in the Soviet Union who has been universally identified with the Soviet emigration movement and the campaign for human rights in that country. Mr. Shcharansky. once a computer expert. first applied for a visa to emigrate to Israel in 1973. His request was refused on the grounds that "he has access to classified material." When he first decided to apply for emigration he deliberately avoided work which would be considered "classified." and chose to take a job as a computer programmer instead of the more highly prestigious job offered him at the Institute of the Academy of Sciences. On July 14. 1978. following a closed trial at which no lawyer of his choice nor any witnesses for the defense were allowed. Shcharansky was sentenced to 13 years in prison and labor camps.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visa