2 Soviet Dissidents to Go Free; Begun May Be Next

The Soviet government announced today that two more dissidents have been ordered released from prison and that Jewish activist Josef Begun is likely to be freed.

If they are released, it would be in line with Kremlin actions to free dissidents whose imprisonment has been an obstacle to better Soviet relations with the West. Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev has said the Soviet Union is changing its approach to human rights “for all to see.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov said the government has ordered the release of Anatoly Koryagin and Alexander Ogorodnikov and will “most likely” free Begun.

Gerasimov told a news briefing he did not know whether Koryagin was free yet, but he said a government decision was made Friday to pardon him from charges of anti-Soviet activity.

“Today or tomorrow he will be released,” Gerasimov said.

Koryagin, a 48-year-old psychiatrist, was sentenced in 1981 to seven years in prison and five years’ internal exile after publishing reports that the Soviet government sent some dissidents to mental hospitals.

Gerasimov evaded a question about whether Koryagin would be required to emigrate in return for his freedom. “He is now in prison where there is no desk to buy air tickets,” Gerasimov replied.

Gerasimov told a reporter after the briefing that a list of those who had been granted clemency included Ogorodnikov, 36, who founded a Christian movement in the 1970s.

Sentenced in 1980 to six years in labor camp, Ogorodnikov is serving a second consecutive three-year sentence for alleged anti-Soviet activity.

Tass press agency issued a report on Gerasimov’s briefing, quoting him as saying that Begun’s case was under review.

There have been demonstrations in the United States urging Begun’s release, and plainclothes police in Moscow broke up a series of demonstrations on Begun’s behalf last week.

Begun, 55, was sentenced to seven years in prison and five in exile in October, 1983, after conviction on charges of anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.

Georgy Arbatov, head of the U.S.A.-Canada Institute, said during an interview with American television on Sunday that Begun had been freed. Asked about Arbatov’s incorrect announcement, Gerasimov replied: “I’m not my brother’s keeper.”

Gerasimov said about 150 dissidents have been granted pardons so far in a review of sentences under two laws prohibiting anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda and anti-Soviet slander. He said 140 to 150 cases are still being considered.

He announced about 140 of the releases a week earlier, saying those freed had applied for pardons and promised to cease anti-Soviet behavior.

Some of the released prisoners said they had not made such a promise.