Speaker. I rise today to participate in the Call to Conscience Vigil. 1981. I applaud the Soviets recent increase in the number of exit visas issued to Jews and the release last week of Iosef Mendelevich. one of the three remaining defendants in the 1971 Leningrad trials. Although the current emigration figures are nowhere near the 1979 figures of 51.000. the upward swing of the past 2 weeks cannot go unnoticed. This trend could represent a step toward Soviet willingness to comply with previously agreed international accords and could be a hopeful sign for all those concerned with human rights. Yet our optimism must be cautious. We must not relinquish pressure on the Soviets to end the mistreatment of refuseniks and prisoners of conscience until all human rights violations have been eliminated. One such violation remains in the case of Vladimir Kislik. a distinguished scientist at the Kiev Institute of Nuclear Research in the 1960s. who has been attempting to emigrate to Israel since 1973. Since the denial of his visa application. Kislik has held only menial jobs and has not worked in the scientific field in any capacity. Mr.
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