Last year marked a time of rapidly deteriorating conditions for Jewish citizens of the Soviet Union. Numerous cases of investigations. detentions. arrests. trials. and antiZionist propaganda have been documented. Only 58 percent of the Jews allowed to emigrate in 1979 were granted permission in 1980. In 1979. approximately 50.000 Soviet Jews were allowed to leave. while in 1980. only 21.000 persons emigrated. This has occurred primarily because of the recently initiated "first degree relative" requirement. As you know. this obstacle is a policy employed by many emigration offices. which requires that the visa applicant receive an invitation from a parent. spouse. or child in Israel. This is just one of the delay tactics utilized by emigration officials. Mr. Shcharansky sought only to insure that the guarantees of the Helsinki final act be carried out in his homeland. With 10 others. he founded a group to promote observance of the Helsinki agreements. His first formal application for a visa to Israel was submitted in 1973. However. not only has he been denied the right to move freely. but he has also been denied the freedom to join his wife. Avital.
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