President. today I rise again as a participant in the annual Congressional Call to Conscience for Soviet Jews and Christians to speak out on a subject of great importance to all Americans and to all who have respect for fundamental human rights and civil liberties. Last year I Joined several hundred of my colleagues in the House and the Senate to condemn and call attention to the lack of religious and civil liberties in the Soviet Union and. especially. the maltreatment of prisoners of conscience. refuseniks. and dissidents. And while I am encouraged by the release of Anatoly Shcharansky from his unjust imprisonment. the granting of a temporary visa for Yelena Bonner to come to the United States for surgery. and the reunification of more than a hundred divided family members. this is only a small fraction of the number persecuted. harassed and mistreated in the Soviet Union. Today I wish to call to the attention of my colleagues a refusenik family I discussed on July 19. 1985. Roald and Galina Zelichonok. two Jewish engineers residing in Leningrad. At the time. the Zelichonoks had been waitIng for permission to emigrate for over 7 years. both had lost their professional Jobs. Roald had been detained by the KGB and had many of his personal items sezied. and Galina had been denied permission even to leave the country temporarily for eye surgery in the West. Finally. on June 11. 1985.
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