The World - News from Feb. 9, 1986

Handwritten letters attributed to Soviet dissident physicist Andrei D. Sakharov show he has been subjected to systematic torture by the Soviet KGB secret police, the Observer newspaper of London reported. The newspaper said the letters were mailed from a Western country “very recently” to Tatyana and Efrem Yankelevich, of Newton, Mass. They are the daughter and son-in-law of Sahkarov’s wife, Yelena Bonner. Efrem Yankelevich was quoted as saying that the family is convinced of the authenticity of the letters which indicate that Sakharov “has been subjected by the KGB to intermittent but systematic torture, including force-feeding, mental torture and physical violence.”