Yelena came briefly via taxi from her hospital bed where she was undergoing treatment for her severe glaucoma that partially blinds herand threatens worse. As it turned out. this was to be his last supper for some time because it marked the start of his first hunger strike which coincided with his delivery of a letter of protest to the heads of both the U.S. and Soviet governments. just then starting summit talks in Moscow. His letter protested the restrictions on emigration for many of the ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union. and this hunger strike was his personal way of focusing the worlds conscience and attention on this issue. This hunger strike ended after six days at his physicians insistence when his body. but not his indomitable spirit. could endure the ordeal no longer. I recall that the police had called on Sakharov in his Moscow apartment an hour or so before I arrived that evening. bearing a crudely written protest from neighbors who complained that his noisy friends and visitors disturbed their peaceful ways.
Keywords matched
emigration