Speaker. I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in the congressional call to conscience vigil for Soviet Jews to appeal to the Soviet Government to uphold its pledge as a signatory of the Helsinki Final Act ratified by the Soviets in 1975. As the Members of this body know. emigration statistics remain unacceptably low as the Soviet authorities continue their stringent restrictions on accessibility to emigration visas. The current Soviet emigration laws force a Soviet Jew to undergo a lengthy procedure which usually must be repeated and places the Soviet Jew in a nowin cycle. I am particularly concerned about Mr. Vladimir Lifshitz. a Leningrad mathematician who was convicted of circulating antiSoviet slander on March 19. 1986. and received a 3year sentence. Mr. Lifshitz is the first Soviet Jew to be sentenced to imprisonment since the November 1985 summit held in Switzerland. The Soviet Union has repeatedly denied Vladimir Lifshitz permission to emigrate to Israel with his family since 1981. As a result of his application for emigration. he lost his job as head of a division in a research institute. His wife Anna. a construction engineer. also lost her job and is unable to find a new job In accordance with her profession and qualifications. despite the great demand for such professionals. To protest official harassment and the denial of permission to emigrate to Israel. Mr. Lifshitz has gone on two separate hunger strikes. one of which lasted 22 days.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visas