Keep Pressure on Soviets: Shcharansky

Soviet dissident Anatoly Shcharansky urged U.S. leaders today to keep speaking out against oppression of Jews, saying that is the best way to win freedom for about 400,000 Jews who want to leave the Soviet Union.

“I am released, but 400,000 other Soviet Jews are prisoners,” Shcharansky told an audience of legislators and invited guests at a brief ceremony in the Capitol rotunda.

Shcharansky, who was freed in a prisoner exchange Feb. 11 after spending almost nine years in Soviet prisons and labor camps, is on a two-week tour of the United States.

Meets With President

He met later in the day with President Reagan at the White House.

The Capitol ceremony came a day after Congress sent Reagan a bill authorizing the President to give congressional gold medals to Shcharansky and his wife, Avital, “in recognition of their supreme dedication and commitment to the cause of individual human rights and freedom.”

The 5-foot-2 dissident, who delivered his address while standing on a box out of view behind the podium, received a standing ovation when he was introduced as “an authentic hero in the struggle for human possibility.”

In his short speech, Shcharansky thanked the legislators for keeping pressure on the Soviets to release more Jews.

Jackson Amendment

Shcharansky urged Congress not to repeal the so-called Jackson Amendment, which was written into law 12 years ago.

Sponsored by the late Democratic Sen. Henry Jackson of Washington as an amendment to a trade bill, the law prohibits the United States from granting “most favored nation” trade status to those countries that fail to respect human rights. That status permits lowered tariffs and trade barriers.