Speaker. today I gathered with a number of my colleagues to participate in the Fourth Annual Congressional Fast and Prayer Vigil for Soviet Jewry. The focus of this years event is the plight of divided families. those who have been involuntarily separated from their relatives in the West. These families have been denied the freedom to join their relatives because in the eyes of the Soviet government they are criminals. hence without the right to emigrate. These people have not been accused of being criminals because they have committed heinous crimes against humanity. but rather because they have attempted to be part o1 humanity and exercise their freedoms of religion and speech. I have the privilege to represent the Yakir family during this vigil. Since the days of the Stalin regime. this family has been the target of continued harassment and persecution. Alexander Yakir and his parents Yevgeny and Rimma first applied to emigrate to Israel in October 1973. They were. and continue to be. denied visas because Soviet officials believe that Rimma. a computer engineer. possesses state secrets. On June 18. 1984. Alexander was arrested and charged with draft evasion.
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