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AMENDMENT TO H. CON. RES. 100

Page 2, in the first full paragraph of the preamble, strike out ''and'' after the semicolon.

Page 2, in the second full paragraph of the preamble, strike out : Now, therefore, be it'' and insert in lieu thereof ''; and''.

Page 2, insert the following immediately after the second full paragraph of the preamble:

Whereas Augustina and Lidia Vashchenko began a hunger strike on

December 27, 1981, to protest their treatment by the Soviet

Government;

Whereas Lidia Vashchenko was removed from the United States Embassy compound in Moscow, away from her family and American protection, to Botkin Hospital to undergo treatment for ailments resulting from her hunger strike; and

Whereas the future intentions of the Soviet authorities

regarding Lidia Vashchenko and other members of the

Vashchenko and Chmykhalov families remain unclear: Now,
therefore, be it

Mr. BONKER. We also have with us today Representative Smith from New Jersey, in behalf of his resolution, House Resolution 269,1 that concerns the immigration of Yuli Kosharovsky and his immediate family to Israel.

STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Chairman, prior to getting on to that, I would just like to make a few notes. First, I would like to commend Congressman Frank for his leadership on behalf of the Siberian Seven. I, too, have a resolution that is similar to it. It followed his, and he did take the leadership on that.

Having recently returned from the Soviet Union, after meeting the Siberian Seven and seeing the plight that they have faced, I want to add my feelings of urgency to the matter, that we have to move quickly on this. The Embassy has to, I think, become more accommodating to them. The small room that Sam Gejdenson and I saw is an example. When we met those people and saw the very cramped living conditions that they are under, we came to the realization that the Embassy can be doing more for them.

They are living in a room that is big as our own offices in there. You have seven people trying to live there and to go on with a semblance of normal life, and it is just not there.

Mr. BONKER. Mr. Smith, I want to assure both you and Mr. Frank that this subcommittee is fully aware of the situation in Moscow with the Pentecostals. Indeed, your resolutions are timely. The subcommittee is beginning today its series of hearings on religious persecution, and I think this stands out as a notable example of that persecution that exists within the Soviet Union. So the resolutions are timely.

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Chairman, I would ask for unanimous consent that my statement be included in the record on House Concurrent Resolution 100.

Mr. BONKER. Without objection, so ordered.

[Mr. Smith's prepared statement and attachment follow:]

12-286 0 - 83 - 3

PREPARED STatement of CONGRESSMAN CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Mr. Chairman, as the sponsor of a similar resolution to House Concurrent Resolution 100, I am pleased that this subcommittee has chosen to take up the issue of the Siberian Seven. This is a timely matter of great concern to all of us, and the House must act quickly as the situations of the Vashchenko and Chmykhalov families grow worse every day.

While in the Soviet Union during our recess in January, I was able to meet the two families. They are a warm, sincere, and deeply religious group of individuals whose only request is that they be able to practice their Pentecostal faith freely.

Mr. Chairman, for twenty years now, Pentecostals from Chernogorsk, a small mining town 2000 miles east of Moscow, have tried to emigrate from the Soviet Union. There efforts have been unsuccessful. The Soviet authorities have been trying to eliminate

the Pentecostals since the Stalin era.

Members of the Vashchenko and Chmykhalov familes, Mr. Chairman, have suffered job discriminations, beatings, forced abduction of their children for reeducation in state orphanages, terms in labor camps and psychiatric hospitals, and mysterious deaths of family all in an effort to secure the religious freedom they

members

--

justly deserve.

These two familes have been living in virtual captivity in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for the past 3 years.

Since Christmas of

1981, Augustina and Lida Vashchenko have been on a hunger strike to protest their treatment by Soviet officials.

And just a little over

a week ago, Lida was

she is undergoing

taken to Botkin Hospital in Moscow, where

treatment for ailments resulting from her hunger

strike. She is now away from her family, and away from American

protection.

Mr. Chairman, I am very much concerned about her safety,

as I believe all of us are.

While visiting the two familes in their small Embassy quarters. Lida Vashchenko gave my a carbon copy of a letter which she and her mother sent to Brezhnev and Gromyko. I would like to quote a part of her message, which she gave to me to bring out of the Soviet Union "You already know that we are a Christian family and our Christian

ideas cannot be combined with communism. On the Christian basis we

have been asking for permission to leave this country."

"We consider the hunger strike not a suicide of ourselves, but the
last attempt to achieve the emigration of our whole family."

"You can, if you wish, resolve the problem before our death, but if
you will not want to pay attention to this, people of the whole world
will consider this case as a murder commited by you."

Mr. Chairman, I would like to propose the following recommendatio

as an update to the Frank Resolution.

I believe that these ammend

ments would help make this resolution a more effective one.

I suggest that we include the fact that Augustina and Lida Vashchenko have been on a hunger strike since Christmas to protest their treatment by the Soviet government.

I would also suggest that we include the fact that Lida Vashchen of the American Embassy and transferred

has been taken out

to

a

Sovic

hospital. Her future is unclear, and I believe that we should make some provisions on her behalf.

Mr. Chairman, I urge that this subcommittee accept my proposed

ammendments.

I thank you for your deep concern with such an importar human rights issue. I look forward to the day when a free Vashchenke free Chmykhalov family can be with us here in the United States.

and a

APPENDIX 1

Moscow. Embassy of the US.
January 6, 1982.

To the Soviet Presidents

Leonid Breshnev and

Andrei Gromyko.

Appeal from the Vashohenko family.

We have been written to you many times for permission to
leave the USSR during the past 20 years. The total number of these
letters is over 500.

We never received any reply to these letters. It has been
Just vicious oiro of the question of our emigration. Moscow autho-
rities refer to the local, the logorsk, and the local refer to
Moscow'..

You already know that we are a Christian family and our
Christian ideas cannot be combined with Communiem, un the Christian
basis we have been asking permission to leave this country.

Because all our attempts to get emigration have not beenn
auocessful during these 20 years we felt forced to undertake this
hunger strike that is lasting for 13 days alrondy.

We consider the hunger strike not a suicide of ourselves
but the last attempt to achieve the emigration of our whole family.
You can, if you wish, resolve the problem before our
death but if you will not want to pay attention to this people of
the whole world will consider this case as a murder commited by you.
If these two great countries cannot find positive so-
lution of this small question how then they can solve big ones?

The Vashchenko Family.

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