Speech #1010044921

I have supported the causes of many refuseniks in their struggles for religious freedom. Residents of my district in Ohio have personally taken responsibility for these cases. Recently. our concern and attention were rewarded when Boris Lifshitz of Moscow and his family. refuseniks since 1979. were finally granted permission to emigrate. They now live free in Israel. I greatly appreciate the cooperation that I have received from the Soviet Government in resolving this particular case. however. the fact that thousands of Jews remain in the Soviet Union against their will is still deplorable. I feel that it is unfortunate that an initiative such as the Congressional Call to Conscience Vigil is a necessary means by which fundamental human rights must be obtained. As the spirit of glasnost has swept the Soviet Union. there have been dramatic changes in many areas. including the increased emigration of refuseniks. It is time that we take full advantage of this social "openness" and obtain freedom for the oppressed in the Soviet Union. I would like to share with you the personal tragedy of Boris Kelman who has been a refusenik since 1978. when he and his family first applied for exit visas from the Soviet Union. Though over the next year more than 50.000 Jews were permitted to leave the country. Kelman was denied because the Soviet Government claimed that he had been exposed to state secrets. Upon application for emigration privileges. Kelman was forced to leave his profession as an engineer and had no choice but to accept a series of menial jobs. Because of his refusenik status he has little possibility of advancement. For his wife. Alia. the situation is much the same. When the family applied for emigration. she lost her job as a pediatrician and was unemployed for quite a while. She now works in the Leningrad Polyclinic and has a difficult professional life. She is known as "the refusenik doctor of Leningrad." and she sees to the medical needs of many of her fellow refuseniks.