Sakharov says he and wife beaten by police

Press, 20 February 1980, Page 8

Sakharov says he and wife beaten by police

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The,.banished Soviet dissident leader, Andrei Sakharov, in a statement released in Moscow, has said he and his wife-have been beaten by the police in the Soviet closed city to which he has been exiled. The 58-year-old academician said he and his wife, Yelena, were physically ejected from a police station in the Volga city of Gorky last Friday when they went to inquire about a friend who had been detained. Mrs Sakharov, who has suffered from an eye ailment for a number of years, was

beaten around the eyes, Dr Sakharov said. The statement was read out at a press conference held in Dr. Sakharov’s former central Moscow flat. Dr Sakharov said he and his wife had gone- to a local police station after a friend, Yuri Shikhanovich, was arrested as he entered the building where the academician was confined. ‘ Mr Shikhanovich had accompanied . ;;Mrs Sakharov, who was. preparing to celebrate her fifty-seventh birthday, from Moscow. “When I and my wife arat the police station to clear up the misunder-

standing we were thrown out on to the floor on the orders of a Captain Snezhnitski. “At the same time, my wife, who has eye trouble, was beaten around the eyes,” Dr Sakharov’s statement said. Dr Sakharov said he and his wife were then held in the corridor while; Mr Shikhanovich was taken away. In a telegram to Yun Andropov, head of the K.G.8., the Soviet security police, Dr Sakharov protested, over the action and called for the police officers involved to be disciplined.