www.ukrweekly.com as OSH Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association! an X monn> t n -1 Я —r– j -z o - О O Z Ш H - от - о < s–1 z - e za WAY -j. 7 Щ- \ wo -c rainian У о - " Vol. Lll No. 20 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 13,1984 25 cents Famine bill goes to State Department; Aleksei Nikitin is dead; gains more co-sponsors in Congress fought for workers' rights in USSR WASHINGTON - House Resolu­ In the Senate, Sen. Bradley on May 7 tion 4459, known as the "Ukrainian sent a "Dear Colleague" letter to all by Bohdan Nahaylo Famine Bill," has received more co- members asking them to co-sponsor S sponsors and was recently referred to 2456. MUNICH - The recent death has the State Department for study and Recent co-sponsors of the bill in the been reported of the leading Soviet comments, according to Americans for House are Reps. Howard Berman (D– workers'-rights campaigner and poli­ Human Rights in Ukraine. Calif.), Lawrence G. Smith (D-Fla.), tical prisoner Aleksei Nikitin. A The bill, which was introduced in the Bill Young (D-FIa.) and Benjamin long-standing victim of the political House by Rep. James Florio (D-N.J.) Gilman (R-N.Y.), bringing the total abuse of psychiatry, the 47-year old and in the Senate as S 2456 by Sen. Bill number of sponsors in the House to 84. former coal-mining engineer from Bradley (D-N.J.), calls forthe establish­ On the Senate side, Sen. Dennis De– Ukraine had apparently been releas­ ment of a congressional commission to Concini (D-Ariz.), has agreed to co- ed from forcible confinement in a investigate the Great Famine in Ukraine sponsor the bill. He joins Sen. Bradley, mental hospital only weeks before he (1932-33). which killed 7 million people, as well as Sens. Gary Hart (D-Colo.). died of stomach cancer. and the Kremlin's role in perpetrating and Walter D. Huddleston (D-Ky.). in He had spent 10 years in mental what has come to be known as the supporting the measure. hospitals because of his defense of" "Ukrainian holocaust." According to AHRU. it is significant workers' rights, advocacy of inde­ that three out of the four congressmen pendent trade -unions and exposure For more on N. J. politicians 'in voive– supporting the bill are members of the of working conditions in the Donbas ment with the famine hill, see box on House Foreign Affairs Committee to mining region. page 3. ^ which the measure has been referred. Of Together with Vladimir K!ebanov, The State Department, is expected to the 19 members comprising the two Л"8ІЗОТІ coal miner fromthe Ukrainian review the measure and offer its recom­ subcommittees which were commis­ Donbas region, Nikitin will be re­ mendations regarding the ad visibility of sioned to review the bill and submit membered as a courageous pioneer Aleksei Nikitin establishing such a commission. - recommendations to the House, nine of free trade unionism in the Soviet In other developments regarding the are already co-sponsors. Union even before the remarkable he was born into a peasant family, legislation. Rep. Florio has called on The Bradley letter coincides with emergence of the Polish independent the youngest of. 10 children. One Reps. Dan Mica (D-Fla.) and Lee similar letters sent to all members of trade union organization Solidarity. ot his sisters died during the famine Hamilton (D-lnd.), chairmen, respec­ Congress by Dr. Petro Stercho, chair­ While at the end of 1977 Klebanov of 1933, and two of his brothers were tively, of the House Subcommittee on man of the National Committee to was the first to organize an indepen­ killed during World War II. A natural Asian and Pacific Affairs and the Commemorate Genocide Victims in dent trade union organization in the leader, he was good in school, held Subcommittee on International Security Ukraine (1932-33). In his letter. Dr. USSR — the Association of Free important positions in the Komso­ and Scientific Affairs, to schedule Stercho urges law-makers to back the Trade Unions of Workers in the mol, and graduated in electro-me­ hearings on the bill. famine commission bill. Soviet Union — Nikitin was the first chanics from the Donetske Technical Soviet workers'-rights activist to School. He was drafted and served in actually take Western journalists to a the Northern Fleet. After his dis­ major Soviet industrial center and let charge from the armed forces in Soviets quit Olympic Games them see for themselves the condi­ 1962, Nikitin returned to his former tions in which Soviet workers have to job as an electro-mechanic at a coal MOSCOW - The Soviet Union mounted in playing host for the Games live. Although in recent years he had mine in the Donbas. announced on May 8 that it would not and considerably weakened competi­ been treated with massive doses of At this stage he became active in take part in the Olympic Games in Los tion in many sports, creating deep drugs and as a result of this was in protesting on behalf of workers' Angeles this summer. resentments. danger of losing his eyesight, he rights. He opposed the unjust distri­ The following day. East Germany refused to capitulate and remained to bution of bonuses, apartments and and Bulgaria said that they would not Concerns about defections the end true to his beliefs. other perquisites by the manage­ be sending teams to the Games, and ment. Nikitin became a member of similar announcements are expected The possibility of defections was Early years an "initiative group of workers and shortly from other Soviet satellite another sensitive issue that may have Communists" which succeeded in countries. According to his personal history, achieving the dismissal of the direc­ A statement issued by the Soviet related by Nikitin to the Soviet tor of the mine and his expulsion National Olympic Committee said the psychiatrist Dr. Anatoliyi Koryagin, (Continued on page 10) participation of Soviet athletes was impossible because of "the gross flout­ ing" of Olympic ideals by the United States. In particular, the statement, distributed by the press agency TASSv cited plans by groups to stage anti- Soviet demonstrations during the games and the American refusal to ban such protests. contributed to the Soviet decision, Although the Soviets insisted that although only one Soviet citizen was their action was not a boycott. man\ defected since the USSR entered the experts said they believed the Soviets Olympics in 1952 — and he voluntary decided to withdraw from the Games in returned to his country later. In Los retaliation for the U.S. boycott of the Angeles, however, several citizens' Moscow Olympics in 1980 in response groups, including the Ban the Soviets to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. coalition, have publicly stated that they Others thought the Soviets hoped to planned to encourage defections among emoarrass the Reagan administration. Soviet and East European athletes. The Alma-Ata Special Psychiatric Hospital where Aleksei Nikitin was held Despite official statements mocking The coalition, which was formed before his death. the boycott of 1980, it seriously under­ after the Soviets shot down an unarmed mined the efforts that the Kremlin had (Continued on page 12) THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 13, 1984 No. 20 Sakharov declares hunger strike Estonian prisoner beaten as ailing wife faces prosecution for speaking native language MOSCOW - Yelena G. Bonncr, the MUNICH - Estonian political pri­ wife of exiled Soviet human-rights soner Mart Niklus was badly beaten activist Dr. Andrei Sakharov, is under recently after being dragged' from the investigation for "defaming the Soviet visiting room of Chistopol Prison for system" and has been barred from ignoring an order that he stop speaking leaving the closed city of Gorky, a friend to his mother in their native Estonian. of the couple reported on May 9. According to USSR News Brief According to a story in The New published here. Mr. Niklus declared a York Times, the friend said that Dr. hunger strike shortly after the incident, Sakharov, who was banished to Gorky which reportedly took place in March. four years ago, has begun a hunger He said that he would continue the fast strike to demand medical treatment for until authorities allow him to use his his wife abroad. native language during visits. Ms. Bonner, who has had several Mr. Niklus, 49. was an English heart attacks, was one of the founding teacher and zoologist before his arrest members in,1976 of the Moscow Hel­ in 1980 on charges of disseminating sinki Group, an unofficial citizen's anti-Soviet materials and listening to committee that monitored Soviet com­ Voice of America broadcasts with his pliance with the human-rights provi­ students. He was subsequently sen­ sions of the 1975 Helsinki Accords. The Yelena G. Bonner tenced to 10 years in a labor camp and group was intensely persecuted and five years' internal exile, a form of disbanded in 1982. Russian republic's criminal code, which forced residence. The friend, Jrina G. Kristi, a matha– carries a maximum sentence of three He previously served a term from metician who managed to talk to Dr. years in a labor camp for first offenders. 1958 to 1966 under provisions of the old Sakharov and his wife May 6 for three She said she had also been threatened Article 58section of the Criminal Code Mart Niklus minutes in Gorky, said the couple told under Article 64, the treason statute, of the Russian SFSR, "betrayal of the Niklus was ordered to stop speaking her Ms. Bonner, 61, had been put under which carries a maximum penalty of motherland." Estonian.