U.S. Lawmakers Ask Soviet Apology for Slaying

A delegation of U.S. congressmen Tuesday demanded an apology from Soviet officials for the killing of American Army Maj. Arthur D. Nicholson Jr. by a Soviet guard in East Germany.

The delegation’s leaders, Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) and House Republican leader Robert H. Michel of Illinois, are to meet today with new Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and reportedly will deliver a letter from President Reagan reaffirming his interest in a summit meeting and in resolving U.S.-Soviet problems.

The delegation met for more than 2 1/2 hours Tuesday with Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko.

The issue of the American major’s killing was raised by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) in a meeting with members of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal Parliament.

Murtha, who said he described Nicholson’s death on March 24 as an act of murder, said he got a “very subdued response” from the Soviet side.

“I felt very strongly that these kinds of incidents made it very difficult for the United States to negotiate with the Soviet Union,” Murtha said.

Nicholson was shot and killed by a Soviet sentry near a restricted Soviet military base in East Germany. The Soviets said he was spying and refused to halt or heed a warning shot before the sentry fired the fatal bullet.

U.S. officials, however, insisted that Nicholson was not on a restricted base when he was shot without warning and left to die without medical attention.

When a Soviet official indicated that his government has expressed regret over the incident, Michel challenged the assertion. A Soviet statement on the incident was read aloud, but it said only that the United States bore full responsibility for the “regrettable” episode.

California Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), joined by Rep. Marty Russo (D-Ill.) and Rep. Norman Sisisky (D-Va.), raised human rights issues.

Sisisky said Soviet officials blandly assured the group that no Soviet Jews want to leave. “I really blew my top,” he said. “I told them I had only been here 48 hours, and I could give them a long list of just such people.”

He said he also raised the claims of 20 Soviet citizens married to Americans, who have been denied the right to join their spouses.

During the luncheon, Chairman Lev N. Tolkunov of the Supreme Soviet’s Council of the Union arranged with O’Neill for a four-member task force to discuss human rights issues in more detail.

Sisisky said a list of 100 human rights cases was provided to the Soviet deputies. “We told them that actions speak louder than words,” Russo noted.