This marks the fourth year that I have spoken out on behalf of the Abranzon family and. unfortunately. the events of the past year have failed to bring about any improvement in the couples situation. Indeed. there has been an almost complete cutoff in communication between the family and their relatives in the West. The Abranzons are Soviet Jewish citizens who had planned to apply for exit visas. However. on October 5. 1979. the Soviet police broke into Mr. and Mrs. Abranzons apartment. confiscated all of their possessions. and imprisoned them at IvanoFrankovsk Prison in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. where they were held without trial for over a year.