UPITN 24/1/80 SOVIET DISSIDENTS CALL FOR A BOYCOTT OF THE MOSCOW OLYMPICS

Описание: (22 Jan 1980) In Paris, seven leading Soviet dissident exiles, on 22 january, supported US President Jimmy Carter's proposals to boycott the Moscow olympics, saying if they take place, it will be like Hitler's exploitations of the 1936 games in Berlin.
The group which included physicist Alexander Ginzburg, Ukranian religious dissident Edward Kuznetzov and Vladimir Bukovsky who was exchanged for a Chilean Communist in 1976, told a news conference that the boycott and Carter's embargo of grain shipments would further the cause of human rights. The seven are members of a group calling itself "Committee for the Rights of Man, Moscow 1980". They said the Soviet Union has prepared for the olympics by arresting dissidents. They described the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and suppression of human rights as two sides of the same coin. The President of the committee, Marek Halter, said that even if the boycott of the olympics succeeds, the fight for human rights will by no means be over. He went on to say, "we take this opportunity to appeal to all the governments in the world for total amnesty for all prisoners of conscience." His statement was followed by one in Russian from Bukovsky, who said "if the boycott is effective - the Russians will be forced to tell the truth....they can lie about grain..they can lie about the tanks in Prague and Afghanistan, saying they are just going for a stroll - but how can they lie about an empty stadium on the day of the olympics?"

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