Every day. another case of a Soviet Jew being persecuted comes to light. Every day. we hear of somebody being fired from his job. losing his citizenship and being placed behind bars or in a labor camp. Every day. we hear of another person being charged with trumped up crimes such as "spreading antiSoviet information." "defaming the Soviet State." and "hooliganism." In truth. these ridiculous charges are nothing but the desire to emigrate to Israel and to be free to practice Judaism. rights fully guaranteed by the Soviet Constitution. One such case is Yuri Tarnopolsky. Arrested on March 17. 1983. 47yearold research chemist Yuri Tarnopolsky of Kharkov was sentenced to 3 years for "defamation of the Soviet state and social system." He. his wife Olga. and his daughter Irina have been denied visas since 1976. Although Tarnopolsky is an organic chemist with over 60 published papers. he learned that there are no jobs for refusenik scientists. only menial work or "parasitisim." For 3 years he was unemployed. The Soviets repeated refusals to grant Tarnopolsky an exit visa led him to a 40day hunger strike in 1982. At that time. he wrote: "The refusal is by no means a waiting for visas. It is a slow dying. an agonizing tragedy." After being arrested in March of 1983. he was sent to a labor camp in Chita. in eastern Siberia. Working in a mine. he suffers from pain in his gall bladder and heart.
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