Those who have sought to preserve Armenian culture against the Kremlins relentless Russification efforts or to monitor Soviet compliance in Armenia with the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act have been ruthlessly persecuted. Indeed. the Armenian Helsinki Monitoring Group. founded in April 1977 following the signing of the Helsinki accords by the Soviet Union. has been broken up by the authorities. Eduard Arutyunyan. its founder. died in 1984 while serving a prison term for human and national rights activism. Since 1963. over 200 Armenian political prisoners have been behind bars at one time or another. As many as 30 Armenian political prisoners are in Soviet labor camps or prisons today. The Soviet Government also restricts contacts with Armenians abroad and denies permission for many to emigrate. Mr. President. at this time.
Keywords matched
emigrate