Mrs. Gladys Botwin. a United States citizen residing in Israel. told me of her cousins who wish to leave the Soviet Union. Boris and Elena live in Moscow and have applied for exit visas since 1975. They have three children: Anna. 15. Eugenia. 12. and Yosek. 1. Since the exit visas have been refused. this family receives the harassment meted out by the Soviets to refuseniks in a routine manner. Refuseniks are denied Jobs. housing. and often are randomly arrested and brutally beaten. Boris. although trained as a radio engineer. suffers long periods of unemployment and is often forced to seek odd jobs to support his family. After several arrests on charges such as "hooliganism" Boris wrote this letter to Leonid Brezhnev: The trials of the Jewish activists conducted during the last years have shown that we cannot count on the objectiveness and fairness of the Soviet court. It is obvious that false charges are being fabricated in order to Intimidate the Jews wishing to emigrate to Israel and trials are turned into acts of reprisal. There cannot be any doubt as to the outcome of my trial although dozens of witnesses can testify that the charges against me do not correspond with reality. When his case was heard in court.
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emigrate visas