' - SECitE'r --- No Objection To Declassification 2008 06 09 NLC-31-39-2-11-1 - JI CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY NATIONAL FOREIGN ASSESSMENT CENTER State Dept review completed HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW 18-31 August 1978 SOVIET UNION -- The decline in dissident activities during late August probably was due more to the fact that dissidents like other Moscow residents leave the city for vacation at the end of the summer than to the damage that the regimets recent crackdown on dissent has inflicted on the human rights movement The only recent initiative taken by Soviet activists was their restatement of support for the Charter 77 dissent movement in Czechoslovakia The Soviet dissidents' public display of support for their East European cotmterparts coming at a time when Polish and Czech dissidents are openly coordinating their activities doubtless feeds J l bscow's chronic apprehension that East European and Soviet dissidents may fonn a united opposition CONFIDENTIAL -- According to the Western press in late May a Moscow dissident protesting bun an rights leader Yuriy Orlov's court sentence tried to corrunit suicide by self-immolation in Red Square A member of the Soviet Corrunittee to Investigate the Use of Psychiatry for Political Ends reportedly said that the Soviet authorities have confined the protestor Aleksandr Lyapin to a psychiatric hospital UNCLASSIFIED -- Recent developments have served to reinforce the belief of Pentecostal squatters in the US Embassy in Moscow·that the Soviet Government will retaliate against them after they depart · The Vaschenkos one of two families staging the sit-in received word two weeks ago that a Soviet court may place their yooog children who are still at homei in a This pubZiaation is a aompiZation of artiaZes prepared by the geographiaai divisions of the Offiae of Regional aiJPoZitiaai Analysis Inquiries may be directed to the Praoduation Staff i 25X1 RP-M-78-10342 1 September 1978 MORI GDF per C03007196 25X1 SECRET NOFOR SF C RF T No Objection To Declassification 200 06 09 NLC-31-39-2-11-1 stage orphanage Mrs Chmykhalova of the second family learned that her husband may be tried soon for renoun cing his Soviet citizenship Soviet officials probably know that these actions if carried out would complicate the US Embassy's efforts to persuade the Pentecostals to leave on the basis of Soviet assurances that there would be no reprisals against them CONFIDENTIAL EASTERN EUROPE ·- East Gennan writer Stefan Heym in trouble with the authorities because of his latest book about young writers in the GDR has told a US Embassy official that he expects a tightening up in East Gennany Heyin's prediction may be largely a reaction to his own problems it has not been evident in any other reporting Heym called the sentencing of dissident Rudolf Bahro in late June a blow against the liberals from which we have not recovered and fears for his personal safety Heym said that he has been subjected to close police surveillance since an incident in August when a West Genn an television station tried to interview him and some of the writers represented in his book and instead got footage of the secret police watching him The authorities have also Abruptly reassigned the East Gennan officials who has handled Heym's literary works for ten years Reversed an eariier decision to publish a new edition of an earlier book Failed thus far to approve Heyin's requests for foreign travel this fall Heym an ex-American who emigrated to the GDR in the early 1950s has been in trouble with the authorities before for some nonconfonnist work He has generally stayed within the limits of what the reg ime tolerates however and has generally avoided any public dissent He apparently fears that the regime views him as an active troublemaker because of the television incident and because some of the young writers anthologized in his book have been dissidents He has tried to set matters straight in a letter to pary leader Honecker CONFIDENTIAL - 2 - SECRET NOFORN SECRET No Objection To Declassification 2008 06 09 NLC-31-39-2-11-1 ASIA -- Cambodia A dramatic increase in the numbers of refugees fleeing from northwestern Cambodia in recent weeks apparently stems from an intensified campaign to execute people whose loyalty to the regime is suspect The refugee flow was sparked by efforts to ferret out and eliminate anyone even remotely associated with the former Lon Nol regime in a district in northern Battambang province It is not yet clear how widespread the campaign is r i Many Cambodians had attempted to hide their past affiliations but 25X1 new lists compiled in this area in early 1978 included even privates in the former Lon Nol army minor officials school teachers village leaders and persons educated or_ tra_ined in Vietnam_or__Ibailand _as_wt uL_ - 1 cJ S tll r families I f-Refugees including ···· sUirn wno say1 neywr01essea recent-exefiltions -apparently fled in large groups and without preparation when Khmer Rouge cadre began to make arrests in their villages SECRET NOFORN -- Phili ines Defense Minister Enrile in his capacity as the ''working level contact within the Philippine Government on the human rights issue has provided Ambassador Murphy with voluminous data in response to a number of questions The Ambassador notes that the documents appear to represent a serious effort by the Marcos regime to provide the US Government with full data on the Philippine human rights situation as perceived by the Philippine leadership The Ambassador notes that while many of the perceptions expressed in the data do not coincide with those of the political opposition and human rights activists the documentation constitutes an important improvement in the dialogue with the Philippines on the subject Among other matters the information Indicated that 272 ''hardcore detainees remain in custody nearly all of them on security-related charges Gave assurance that 2 102 detainees have been released Outlined a report on the phase-out of military tribunals assuring that all future cases except arson will go to civilian courts CONFIDENTIAL - 3 - No Obiection T n npd ic c ifil ' ltirm SECRET NOFORN ' Q f' n f II r- ' I ' ' A A A SECRET No Objection To Declassification 2008 06 09 NLC-31-39-2-11-1 -- Japan In granting pennanent resident status to 1a Vietnamese C0 1J le on 30 August the Japanese Govenune nt has reversed its previous policy of allowing refugees from Vietnam to stay in Japan only on a transit basis According to a govermnent official the couple met the requirements of having pennanent employment and appropriate sponsorship Whether a similar decision will be made for other applicants is open to question In the past three years most of the 1 673 Vietnamese refugees who landed in Japan have subsequently left for other cotmtries CO I JFIDENTIAL AFRlCA -- South Africa Three policemen--two white and one black--were recently fiia icted for the murder of an African Paulos C' ane who died in July while in police custody The policemen are out on bail and their trial is set for October in Durban Cane and a friend were arrested in early June and charged with the theft of a farmer's truck There is no indication they were considered security detainees Local black political sources had not heard of Cane and said that he was not politically involved After their arrest Cane and his friend were hung by their wrists and beaten Cane reportedly was also hung by his neck and repeatedly jerked up and down while being beaten A description of this mistreatment was included in the indictment Savage treatment of prisoners in South Africa is not m1precedented The indictment of some of those responsible however offers some hope that such trea'Qllent may have to be accounted for CONFJDENTIAL - 4 SECRET NOFORN No Obiec tion To ner l i ifir itinn nnAJnR nQ · 1 11 - 1- 0- _ 11 _1