The Ukrainian Weekly 1982, No.6
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www.ukrweekly.com з: ггзс 0>1 CD ^ , ТНЕІ СВОБОДА 4^ SVOBODA І І ІЛ- t, \'! z x - О -Ч о -і і: О О г -п о о О о "о о z m О дз аз - Рі о ся о Ukrainian WeeH W - PUBUSHED BY THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION INC., A FRATERNAL, NON-PROFIT ASSOCIATION У Vol. t No. 6 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1982 25 cat? Soviet policy toward invalids: Helsinki monitor Lesiv intentional neglect, inhumanity sentenced to five years NEW YORK - Yaroslav Lesiv, 37, NEW YORK - Thousands of to a wheelchair and lives in a building member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Soviet paraplegics and other invalids, with no elevator; and Valeriy Fefe- group, was sentenced to five years' many of them World War II veterans, lov, 33, who has been a paraplegic imprisonment, reported the External are forced to eke out an existence since suffering an industrial accident Representation of the Ukrainian Hel with virtually no government assis when he was 17, have all suffered sinki Group. tance, are banished from most major reprisals. Mr. Lesiv was first sentenced in 1967 city centers, and are often beaten by All three, plus contributors to the to six years in camp and five years of police if they wander into busy group's bulletins, have been harassed internal exile for membership in the downtown areas because they spoil by the KGB. On March 5, 1981, Mr. Ukrainian National Front. the view for tourists and foreigners, Kiselev`s small workshop in the In September 1979, he joined the reported Freedom Appeals, a bi Crimea, which his friends helped Ukrainian Helsinki Group, and in monthly human-rights journal. build, was set on fire by the KGB. November of that year he was arrested Although 1981 was designated the Earlier that year, he-had been severely reportedly on a fabricated charge of International Year of Disabled Per beaten by police plainclothesmen. narcotics possession, which carries a sons by the United Nations, the The Soviet invalids who suffer the penalty of up to 10 years'deprivation of plight of the disabled in the USSR most, however, are those who are freedom. reaches inhumane dimensions, com sentenced to labor-camp and exile He was to be freed on November 15, plete with government indifference, terms for political activities. 1981. However, another investigation maltreatment and harassment that The initiative group's Bulletin No. was ordered, and instead of being rivals the treatment of the mentally ill 12 outlines the case of Ukrainian released on that day, Mr. Lesiv was Yaroslav Lesiv during the Dark Ages. Юдивше Helsinki ,урЛф шевдЬдг and. ,poet- again sentenced to a five-year term. Many Soviet invalids, have been Iryna Senyk, 57, who is currently in This is not the first case in which gymnast from Ivano-Frankivske. His forcibly exiled or imprisoned in her final year of exile in the remote human-rights activists have had their only "crime" seems to be that he is a special camps, which lack proper Kazakh SSR. terms prolonged. This has recently defender of human rights and personal medical facilities, and where they are First arrested in 1944 and sen happened to the Podrabinek brothers in dignity, the Helsinki group's External often put to work despite their tenced to 10 years for membership in Moscow, to Vasyl Barladianu and Representation noted. physical handicaps. the Organization of Ukrainian Na Vasyl Ovsienko. Mr. Lesiv is in poor health; he has Official Soviet policy toward the tionalists, Ms. Senyk was released in No one in the West knows what heart trouble, diabetes and severe invalids appears to be one of inten 1954. While in the camp, she was charges have been brought against Mr. myopia, which has caused partial blind tional neglect. Unlike in the West, beaten so badly that her spine was Lesiv, a physical education teacher and ness, the External Representation said. there are no special agencies to aid broken. She underwent a number of the disabled, nor are there special operations and, after a long con buses, ramps or other accommoda valescence, was able to walk again. tions specifically designed to make She was declared an invalid upon U.S. Embassy hunger-striker hospitalized life easier for the physically handi being discharged. capped. Prosthetic devices are cheap Although she was classified an MOSCOW - Looking haggard and families — who rushed past Soviet ly made, if they can be found at all. invalid, Ms. Senyk, who was sen sallow, Lidia Vashchenko, the 30-year- guards nearly three and a half years ago There is no housing designed for tenced in 1972 to six years'imprison old Siberian Pentecostal who has been and have been living in a dingy base invalids, and pensions are inadequate ment and three years' internal exile on a monthlong hunger strike in the ment room in the U.S. Embassy ever to meet their special needs. for "anti-Soviet agitation and propa U.S. Embassy here, was escorted out of since. Freedom Apeals recounted one ganda," has been forced to work as a the compound by U.S. officials on She and her mother began their fast incident in Moscow witnessed by cleaning woman in a hotel. January 30 and driven to nearby Botkin to dramatize their plight, claiming that Victor Abdalov, a photographer now She was deprived of her invalid Hospital after American doctors said the United States has been dragging its living in the West, which seems status, and must how wash floors and her condition had worsened, reported feet in resolving their dilemma. indicative of official Soviet attitudes do other demanding work which has United Press International. Although Soviet officials at first towards invalids. seriously impaired her health. After the embassy car pulled up to the refused to allow U.S. diplomatic per While riding in a cab in Moscow, Her appeals to have her invalid hospital entrance, trailed by a CBS- sonnel to visit Ms. Vashchenko, they Mr. Abdalov witnessed a policeman status reinstated have been ignored News camera crew, a gaunt Ms. Vash finally permitted two Americans — Dr. roughing up a man with no legs, who by doctors and administrators. Ac chenko, who reportedly lost 15 pounds John Schadler, the embassy physician, was forced to move about on a small, cording to the bulletin, doctors tell while on a liquid diet and is said to and James Curt Struble, a consular motorized platform. her: "You can walk, can't you? So weigh just 90 pounds, was wisked into official — to see the young woman on The cripple later told Mr. Abdalov you are not disabled." the hospital by Soviet personnel. When February 2. that he was a World War II veteran There are countless other invalids CBS tried to film her admittance, a An embassy spokesman said the who lost his legs defending the Soviet who are prisoners of conscience, burly man in a white smock suddenly visitors spent 15 minutes with Ms. Union, and now was routinely routed among them Mykola Rudenko, 61, iunged at the camera and covered the Vashchenko in the intensive-care unit, by Moscow police for venturing into co-founder of the Ukrainian Helsinki lens with his hand. and found her "looking good, calm, the downtown area "where he could Group, who suffered serious wounds Botkin Hospital is regarded as one of smiling and appearing rested and alert." be seen by foreigners." The police during World War II. Moscow's best, and serves the city's Yet, in a February 3 letter to the men consider him an eyesore, a bad According to Bulletin No. 12, diplomatic community. Soviet officials remaining six Pentecostals in the em- reflection of the Soviet system. nearly a dozen inmates of a special flatly refused an American request to (Contteued on page 2) In 1978, a handful of Soviet in concentration camp for invalids near have Ms. Vashchenko treated in a West valids, tired of official neglect and Dnipropetrovske, Ukraine, died in European hospital. periodic harassment, established the 1976-77. Ms. Vashchenko, who began her INSIDE: Initiative Group to Defend the Rights The existence of the camp was hunger strike on December 28, 1981, of Invalids in the USSR. verified last July by the Belgian Ш News and views - page 7. along with her mother, Augustina, 52, Ш Ukrainian pro hockey update by The three founding members of newspaper Libre Belgique, which was placed in an intensive-care unit. Ihor N. Stelmach - page 8. the group, Yuriy Kiselev, a 50-year- printed excerpts of a samvydav Soviet doctors reported that she aban Ш Panorama by Helen Perozak old artist who lost both his legs in an statement by an invalid prisoner doned her fast and began taking solid Smindak — page 9. industrial accident when he was 16; identified as A. Zeliakov. In his food shortly after her admittance. Ш Tht Helm of Destiny":a film in Failzulla Khusainov, who is confined (Continued on | 2) Ms. Vashchenko is part of a group of the making — page 10. seven Pentecostals — members of two 2 ' THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1982 No. 6 Three Soviet Baptist ministers Meshko recounts hardships of exile NEW YORK - In excerpts from a placed in solitary confinement letter released by the External Repre sentation of the Ukrainian Helsinki ELKHART, Ind. - Three Soviet sentence in a strict-regimen camp in Group, Oksana Meshko, the 77-year- Baptist ministers serving labor-camp Siberia. old dissident, writes about the hard sentences were recently placed in soli Pastor Malakhov, 43, is serving a ships she has encountered in exile. tary confinement for religious activities three-year term in an ordinary-regimen Ms.