Mr. Speaker. this statement in behalf of prisoner of conscience Igor Guberman is part of a continuing effortorganized in 1980 by the gentleman from New Jersey and I commend him for his workto publicize the situations of those on the receiving end of Russian internal repression. Long before the invasion of Afghanistan and the brutal Russian subjugationeffort there. many Soviet citizens felt the mailed fist of the state when they tried to exercise their rights to free sueech. freedom of religion. and freedom of emigration. Igor Guberman is one of those who is sufferingin prisonbecause he worked to publicize the cultural and historic aspects of Jewish life in the Soviet Union in the unofficial publication "Jews in the USSR." because he finally decided to leave the Soviet Union for Israel and because he refused to become a stool pigeonhe was asked to inform on his friends and associates and he said "no." Today. for these "crimes." Igor Gubermans property has been confiscated and he is serving a strict regime 5year sentence as a common criminal. He was convicted. on flimsy evidence. of buying stolen icons.
Keywords matched
emigration