Comfort-prisoner scheme

Press, 18 September 1976, Page 4

Comfort-prisoner scheme

New Zealanders are generally unaware of the plight of Soviet citizens imprisoned for their beliefs on matters of conscience and religion, according to Mr James Read, organiser of the Aid to Russian Churches campaign.

Mr Read is in Christchurch mustering support for the campaign, which has been running in England for three years. He hopes to set up committees in the main centres.

"We don’t promote any particular philosophy,” said Mr Read.

He said the main aim of

the campaign at the moment was to send out greeting cards to Soviet citizens imprisoned for their religious beliefs, or because of matters of conscience. Last Easter 900 cards were sent from New Zealand, and Mr Read hopes to send out 2000 Christmas greetings. “About 38 per cent of the cards get through the Soviet authorities to the people.” The main function of these cards was to show the Soviet authorities examining the mail that there were people in the West aware of the plight of these prisoners. The other equally import-

ant aim was to show New Zealanders that the Declaration of Human Rights was not being properly observed in the U.S.S.R. The 8000 members of the Russian Orthodox Church in New Zealand were participating, and schools, church groups, and the Labour Party had been approached for support, said Mr Rad, who is himself a convert to Orthodoxy. Names of prisoners were being obtained through various means. Supporters were given names and began a correspondence by sending a

greeting card. The cards cost 5c each.

Among those now receiving cards was Gavriil Superfin, who smuggled Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s original manuscript of “The Gulag Archipelago” out of Russia. All cards were sent with return address on the envelope and some prisoners had replied to the senders. Some cards had been returned by the authorities, and this indicated! that the people to whom they had been sent were being put under particular pressure, said Mr Read.