Article VII of the accords specifically ensures freedom of thought. opinion and expression. Today. the Soviet Union continues to disregard the standards set forth in the Helsinki Final Act and to trample upon the political and civil freedoms of its citizens. Over the past few years. hundreds of prisoners of conscience have been silenced and isolated in the Gulag and elsewhere. Emigration has been effectively brought to a halt. Helsinki monitors are repressed within the Soviet Union and denied fundamental freedoms. In 1984 alone. there were at least 130 arrests of Soviet human rights activists4 of whom received prison terms of an average of 3 years.
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Emigration