Mr. Speaker. the free world rejoices with the news of the release of longterm prisoner of conscience Anatoly Shcharnsky. However. his freedom should only remind us to work even harder for the 18 other Jewish prisoners of conscience. the 27 former prisoners who have not been allowed to emigrate. the 15.000 refuseniks and the hundreds of thousands of others waiting to leave. What about Vladimir Slepak? What about Yuri Orlov and Alexander Lerner? Ida Nudel and Iosif Begun? What about them? All those brave "refuseniks" and dissidentspeople condemned to live as "official pariahs" in fear and trembling. condemned to undergo endless ordeals while the wait for signs that are always obscure and for visas that never comeshould they not be remembered. too? Many have spent years in jail. others in labor camps. still others are subjected to daily harassment. humiliation and threats: without our support. without our solidarity. they could not carry on. I will be visiting Russia in April primarily to focus and to spotlight the issue.
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emigrate visas