· TH E VHI TE H OCS E W ASH J - GTO J a nuary 31 1978 HD10RAJ 'IDUH TO Honorable Arthur Goldberg From Dr Joyce Starr Subject Update on Scharansky a nd Kuznetsov Cases I have met over the last few days with Avital Scharansky and Sylva Zalmanson wife of Edward Kuznetsov A number of facts were communicated to me which I thought should be brought to your attention With regard to Scharansky 1 Several lawyers from the West during their recent visit to No scow were told by Apraksyn the head of the Mosco• 1 Bar that Scharansky's mother Ida Milgron had been allowed to see him Ida Milgron denies she has been offered an opportunity to see her son In fact she claims the Procurator told her that she will not be allowed to see Anatoly until after his sentence is proclaimed indicating that this will be a closed trial Furthermore several days ago there appeared in Ida Hilgron's mailbox an unoffical letter from the KGB stating that according to Article 360 it is entirely within the bounds of the law that she be denied the opportunity to see her son until after sentence is passed 2 Activists friends of Scharansky and his family have not been shown the decree which extended his case for six months despite their many requests to do so 3 The Soviets are apparently in violation of their own laws on criminal procedure in connection with Scharansky's legal defense According to Soviet law he should be consulted face-to-face and then in writing with regard to his preference on legal representation Yet the authorities told Schara sky's mother that it is she who must obtain the lawyer In turn she has responded that this choice must be made in consultation with her son 4 Over 100 people have been interrogated in this case One of these is a prisoner in exile vho has not s e en Scharansky since February 1975 but was threatened with labor camp if he should refuse to testif y a bainst Scharansky l •t Hemora ndum to Hono r 1b le Arthur Goldber g Janua r y 31 197 8 5 Sch r nsky' s father is rhen he learned attack 6 Page 2 ill with a heart ailment he had his of the six months' extension of the case Over 20 lawyers in the Soviet Union have refused to take the case The one lawyer who agreed to do so is Dina Kaminskya who has since been exiled from the Soviet Union She is currently in Europe with plans to come to the United States With regard to Kuznetsov 1 Kuznetsov has been on a hunger strike since December 17 1977 He has been forced-fed by the Soviets and his wife has received information that his throat has been badly damaged Sylva Zalmanson is therefore requesting that a relative or friend be allowed to see her husband to convince him to stop the hunger strike Sakarov's wife who is Kuznetsov's aunt has asked permission to see him but this request has been repeatedly denied I have also been asked to bring to your attention the case of Isaac Zlotzer Zlotzer is critically ill with cancer and may not live for more than a few months His wife died of cancer in 1977 Zlotzer requested that he be allowed to leave the Soviet Union to see his children before he dies The children are in their late 20s and reside in Israel Zlotzer has never seen his grandchild who is now six years of age Finally HIAS in Rome has recently reported that the 20% rise in emigration figures is due to a marked increase in the emigration of elderly people Younger Soviet Jew·s are now informed that due to the Helsinki Agreement providing for non-separation of families they must take their elderly parents with them if they want to emigrate ny of these elderly people are pensioners and do not particularly want to emigrate It was also reported that the emigration figures were higher during the months of October and November not any higher in December and that the recent statistics do not represent any major change in policy