Seized by the Soviet security policethe KGBShcharansky was accused of maintaining contacts with the U.S. Government and. in a trial that received worldwide publicity. was sentenced to 13 years in a prison and labor camp. . Mr. Speaker. prior to his arrest in 1977. Mr. Shcharansky was the target of systematic harassment by officials of the Soviet Government. Ever since filing his application for permission to emigrate to Israel in 1973. he was subject to increasing pressures. On March 4. 1977. his situation gravely worsened when Izvestia published an infamous letter accusing Mr. Shcharansky and other prominent Soviet Jewsalong with two American diplomatsof lending themselves to espionage and treasonous activities against the Soviet state.
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