Mr. Speaker. on June 15. 1980. the Soviet Government shocked and outraged the free world by sentencing 11 persons to death or lengthy prison terms in what has come to be known as the Leningrad trial. It was the first in a series of such prosecutions for an unsuccessful attempt to seize an Aeroflot plane to emigrate from the Soviet Union. They were eventually convicted on a series of trumpedup charges of treason and various crimes against the state. Despite a 99percent certainty that they would be caught and sentenced to labor camps. the Leningrad group carried out the attempt as one of the only means available to them to capture international attention for the dissidents movement.
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emigrate