Speaker. I rise today on the International Day of Concern For Soviet Jews to join my colleagues in the House and others around the world to express support for the Soviet Jews. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews apply annually to emigrate so they can live in a country where they can practice their religion freely without fear of persecution. Unfortunately. those who apply for emigration are harassed continuously by the Soviet state. particularly by the KGB. Moreover. the number of Soviet Jews allowed to emigrate has declined significantly. In 1982. Soviet emigration fell to its lowest annual level in over a decade with the emigration level representing a 95percent decline since 1979. Today is also noteworthy because it marks the seventh anniversary of the arrest of Anatoly Shcharansky. a Soviet Jewish activist. Shcharansky. who is serving a 13year term in a Soviet prison. symbolizes the plight of Soviet Jews who wish to emigrate. Shcharansky was arrested in 1977 on charges of "treason" and "antiSoviet agitation and propaganda." In 1981. he spent 185 days in a solitary punishment cell and was sentenced to prison again. The prison conditions are brutal.
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emigrate emigration