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Ul;rainian WeekI у Vol. LV No.7 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15,1987 25 cent3 Demjanjuk trial 140 political prisoners freed in USSR resumes Monday At Ieast 6 Ukrainians JERSEY CITY, N.J. - With the trial of John Demjanjuk, the former known to be freed Cleveland autoworker accused of being JERSEY C1TY, N.J. - At least six a notorious guard at the Treblinka Ukrainians are among the 140 political death camp, set to resume on Monday, prisoners reportedy released in the February 16, defense attorney Mark Soviet Union within the last week and a O'Connor revealed that Israeli authori­ half. ties will not allov^ forensic experts to They are: Vasyl Barats, Mykola lhna- test the so-called Trawniki 1D card. tenko, Valeriy Ostrenko, Zorian Popa- "They are not going to allow us to test diuk, Vitaliy Shevchenko and Yosyp the ID card because, in the words of the Terelia. prosecution, we have to maintain the The dissidents were released under integrity of the card because it has to be pardons granted in accordance with two returned to the Soviet Union, "Mr. decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme O'Connor told The Ukrainian Weekly Soviet, the USSR's nominal legislature, in a telephone interview. dated February 2 and 9. The texts of the The ID card, which purports to be a decrees were not revealed, but it is service record of Mr. Demjanjuk, was known that the prisoners affected were provided by the Soviet Union after mainly those sentenced for "anti-Soviet Israeli authorities insisted that only the agitation and propaganda" (Article 70 original, not a copy, could be used in in the Russian SFSR Criminal Code). prosecuting Mr. Demjanjuk. The releases are not an amnesty. Two of the freed dissidents: Yosyp Terelia and Zorian Рорш1і|ік The Soviets came through in Decem­ Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman ber, forwarding the original card to Gennadi Gerasimov said on February step," while other observers were more Israeli Foreign Ministry officials 10 in Moscow that another 140 or so cautious, stating that hundreds, even Reaction in U.S. through an unidentified intermediary. cases are being reviewed, thus, more thousands more political prisoners Mr. O'Connor says the card is "totally releases are likely. remain in Soviet prisons, camps, inter­ fraudulent." He was dismayed that his Mr. Gerasimov said the pardons were nal exile and in special psychiatric to Soviet moves experts would not be able to test the issued as part of a review of the Cri­ hospitals. (See story on right.) JERSEY C1TY, N.J. - The original card's paper, ink and glue, as minal Code that was being carried out Soviet Union's release of 140 politi­ well as the photo. "so that we may have fewer people Freed Ukrainians cal prisoners and the expected release In effect, Mr. O'Connor stated, "the behind bars and behind barbed wire.' " of another group as large has card has been given sovereign immunity The group release is the largest since The freed Ukrainians are: prompted the U.S. government to from the defense." 1953 when, after the death of Joseph * Vasyl Barats - born March 20, state that it welcomes the Kremlin's ^ "They're going to accept the card as Stalin, Nikita S. Khrushchev freed 1946; originally from western Ukraine, decision as "an important step" and is, just as the Battisti court [in the hundreds of thousands of political now a resident of Moscow; leader of the to urge that these releases continue as United States] did," he said. prisoners. Pentecostal group called The Right to a way to improve U.S.-Soviet rela­ The card remains in the custody of The U.S. State Department hailed Emigrate; communications engineer; tions. the Foreign Ministry. the Soviet action as ''an important (Continued on page 2) The U.S. tempered its response, When the card is offered as evidence however, by adding that improve­ at the Demjanjuk trial, Mr. O'Connor ments in human rights must also said he would immediately challenge its Shumuk compIetes exile term include "the right to emigrate." admissibility in view of the fact that White House spokesman Martin forensic tests have been ruled out. Applies for emigration to Canada Fitzwater said, "As we have consis­ Two forensic experts who examined a tently made clear to the Soviet copy of the card in the United States JERSEY C1TY, N.J. - Danylo where he had been serving his exile government, we attach the greatest expressed serious doubts about its Shumuk, a 73-year-old veteran political term, and apply there for emigration importance to improvements in the authenticity. Patrick Buchanan, assis­ prisoner, comp1eted his five-year term field of human rights, including the tant to the president and White House papers from local Soviet authorities. of internal exile in Karatobe in the (Continued from page 3) right to emigrate." communications director, has labelled Kazakh SSR on January 12 and recent­ (Continued on page 16) At the State Department, spokes­ ly traveled to Moscow to apply once man Charles Redman noted that the again for emigration to Canada. Mr. 140 released prisoners represented Svoboda, Weekly Shumuk is originally from the Volhynia about 20 percent of the estimated 750 region in Ukraine. people known to be imprisoned on send correspondenf The Ukrainian Helsinki Group mem­ purely political grounds. ber, who spent over 40 years in Polish, JERSEY C1TY, N.J. - Marta He went on to call on the Soviet Skorupsky, a New York-based free­ German and Soviet prisons and camps government to free "all other pri­ lance journalist, editor and transla­ for his political activities, was incorrect­ soners of conscience and to permit tor, will be the official news corres­ ly included among the group of 42 them to resume the legitimate activi­ pondent of Ukrainian National As­ Soviet political prisoners whose names ties for which they are unjustly sociation publications at the 1sraeli were published in several American incarcerated." trial of John Demjanjuk. newspapers as those released under a Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, Soviet decree last week. Mr. Shumnk Ms. Skorupsky, who is a former U.S. Ambassador Arthur Hartman was freed earlier, on his scheduled editor of the journal Suchanist and is told reporters: "1n the last little while, a free-lance journalist for Radio release date. the Soviet government has recog­ Liberty, will be dispatching news Sources told The Ukrainian Weekly nized that their treatment of indivi­ stories to both the Svoboda Ukrai­ that Mr. Shumuk had taken care of all duals has had an effect on the over-all nian-language daily and The Ukrai­ emigration formalities at the Canadian relationship of the Soviet Union with nian Weekly. Embassy in Moscow. Soviet authori­ other countries. Ms. Skorupsky was to leave for ties, however, told Mr. Shumuk he had "They have been moving to dam­ no right to remain in Moscow and 1srael on Friday, February 13. (Continued on page 10) advised him to return to Kazakhstan, Danyio Shumuk THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15,1987 No.7 A GLIMPSE OF SOVIET REALITY Infants may show brain damage as a result of Chornobyl accident Memo to Kremlin watchers: NEW YORK - Infants born now Hiroshima and Nagasaki strongly links and in the past few months to women irradiation of the fetus with abnormal Shcherbytsky's staying power who lived near the Chornobyl nuclear brain development, said the physician, .reactor when it exploded last April may (Continued on page 11) by Roman Solchanyk spotted nothing less than a major policy show signs of mental deficiencies caused disagreement between Messrs. Gorba­ by radiation. T' - widespread rumors that circu- chev and Shcherbytsky. The venue was Doctors say fetuses Iess than 15 weeks Inna Meiman dies lateu in Moscow on the eve of the the session of the USSR Supreme into the normal nine-month gestation WASHINGTON - Inna Meiman, recently concluded plenum of the Cen­ Soviet at which the Ukrainian party period are most vulnerable to radiation, wife of Naum Meiman, a founding tral Committee of the Communist Party leader was said to have questioned the and the brain is the most susceptible results of the Reagan-Gorbachev sum­ organ, according to a story in Newsday, member of the Moscow Helsinki Moni­ of the Soviet Union (CPSU) about toring Group, died on Monday, Fe­ Volodymyr Shcherbytsky's imminent mit in Geneva. Conclusion: Mr. Shcher­ a New York metropolitan area news­ bytsky will go. The fact that others, paper. bruary 9. She was 53. ouster from the Politburo proved to be Three weeks earlier, she had been false. The Ukrainian party leader re­ including Mr. Gorbachev himself, also paper. Babies born now were in utero at urged caution in evaluating the results the time of the accident. allowed by the Soviets to travel to the mains a member of that powerful body, United States for cancer treatment. Her and Western observers of the Kremlin of Geneva was overlooked. "There is a critical time period — between eight and 15 weeks (of gesta­ husband was not allowed to accompany scene who are fascinated by the comings * In December 1985 and January her. 1986, party organizations in Ukraine tion) — when there is a correlation and goings of the individuals who make The U.S. State Department has urged held their periodic election and report between the dose of radiation and up the top party leadership will have to the Soviet government to allow Mr. conferences, which resulted in criticism mental retardation," said Dr. Robert wait for another opportunity to peer Meiman to emigrate - something he of local officials and, in some cases, Peter Gale, the American doctor who into their crystal balls.