Duringthe past month, three Soviet Jews have been accused of criminal offences. Amner Zuvurov was sentenced to three years Zuvurov in Uzbekistan on parasitism and hooliganism charges and the failure to possess an internal passport. In Vilnius, physicist Naum Salansky is in his eighth week of investigation, accused of “slandering the Soviet Union for its policy towards the Jewish minority”. Salansky, who recently suffered a heart attack, has been questioned by the Vilnius KGB at least three times a week and is now said to be in poor health. In Leningrad, Vladimir Sverdlin, accused of possessing a number of bullet cartridges, was told that his trial would take place in the near future.
At the same time, the number of refusals is dramatically increasing. As in the past, the Kremlin is hitting out wildly in the face of an embarassing situation such as the Belgrade conference. As in the past, only steady, unrelenting pressure will ensure that human rights are observed.
Jewish Observer 24 February 1977