Asylum for Rumanian journalist

Press, 16 August 1984, Page 10

Asylum for Rumanian journalist

NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles Immigration officials said a Rumanian journalist covering the Los Angeles Olympic Games was granted political asylum by the United States yesterday, just hours after he requested it Vladimir Moraru was one of five Rumanian journalists covering the Olympics. A spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalisation Service said Mr Moraru’s petition for asylum was approved based on a recommendation from the State Department. Mr Moraru, who leaves behind in Rumania a wife and a five-month-old daughter, works for the Rumanian sports newspaper “Sportul.” Immigration officials said Mr Moraru, aged 38, did not join a flight taking the rest of the Rumanian delegation home from Los Angeles and had told the Federal Bureau

of Investigation he was seeking asylum. An immigration official in Los Angeles said while it normally takes up to several months to process applications for asylum, the State Department thought it appropriate to act more quickly on this application. “It was determined that it would be in the best interest of Mr Moraru to expedite the case because of the national interest focused on the Games,” John Velardo, a spokesman for the Congressional Public Affairs Office, said.

He also worked during the Games for the “San Diego Union” newspaper, acting as a contact to help cover the Rumanian team, a spokesman for the newspaper said. Mr Moraru speaks English well, having taught himself by reading American sports magazines.