Vigil for Irina
Sir,—M. Creel’s reply (August 29) was predictable, but useful as it raised the question of evidence, for which there was no room in my initial letter. “The Press" feature (March 26) provided adequate evidence to any impartial investigator. Sources quoted are internationally acceptable. Irina’s sufferings also show through in her prison poems — smuggled out together with eye-witness reports. The monitoring services of other research and support groups confirm inhuman treatment of dissidents. Pastor Dick Rodgers was satisfied as to evidence when he kept “Vigil for Irina,” and others like her, in Birmingham under conditions approximating as closely as possible labour camp punishment cells. He slept on a board with only one blanket and no mattress, stripped to his underclothes. The night temperature in Russia can be very low. (One of Irina’s lines reads “How I had to freeze at night”). Pastor Rodgers lived on bread and water. Irina spent at least 138 days in such conditions.—Yours, etc.,
ORAM. 4AugustJl9, 1986.
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Press, 2 September 1986, Page 20
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163Vigil for Irina Press, 2 September 1986, Page 20
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