Begun Finally Freed From Soviet Prison; He Doesn’t Look Well, His Wife Says

Jewish activist Josef Begun was freed and reunited with his family Friday after more than three years in Chistopol Prison and a week of conflicting reports about his fate, relatives in Moscow reported.

“Finally he is free,” Yana Begun, the wife of Begun’s son, Boris, said in a telephone interview.

“Inna (Begun’s wife) said he did not look well. His voice was cheerful,” she said. “Of course, I am happy now. It has been a difficult struggle.”

Inna and Boris Begun went to the prison 500 miles east of Moscow to be present for his release. Yana Begun said they told her of the release in a telephone call Friday afternoon but gave her no details.

Yana Begun said the three will remain in Chistopol in the Tartar Republic until Sunday, because as Orthodox Jews they refuse to travel on the Sabbath--from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

Premature Announcement

Begun, 55, was sentenced in 1983 to seven years in prison and five more in internal exile after being convicted of anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda. A Soviet official announced prematurely in an American television interview Sunday that he had been released from the prison. Begun was pardoned Tuesday by a decree from the Supreme Soviet, the nation’s nominal Parliament. Authorities said then he would be released when paper work was completed.

Protesters demanding freedom for Begun held five days of demonstrations last week at the Arbat shopping mall in Moscow. Plainclothes agents dispersed the demonstrators with increasing violence, and at least two required medical treatment.

The demonstrations involving about 20 people were led by Boris Begun. He and two others were given 15-day jail terms for “hooliganism,” which were due to start Wednesday, but they have not reported to police and have not been arrested.

Tass did not report Begun’s release but carried a dispatch Friday titled “How the Arbat Show Was Planned” that accused the U.S. Embassy of plotting the protests with Western journalists.

Applied in 1971

Begun, a Hebrew teacher, is one of the Soviet Union’s most prominent refuseniks, Soviet Jews whose applications to emigrate have been rejected. He first applied to leave for Israel in 1971 but was turned down on grounds that his work as an electronics engineer had given him access to secret information.

Repeated applications since also have been unsuccessful. His first wife, Alla, and their younger son, Barak, were allowed to emigrate to Israel in 1981.

Imprisonment at Chistopol followed two terms of internal exile on charges of vagrancy and violation of passport laws.

Another prominent dissident, psychiatrist Anatoly Koryagin, was freed Thursday after five years in a labor camp.

Laws Under Review

The releases of Begun and Koryagin, 48, are the latest in a series that Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said involved at least 150 people. An equal number of cases are said to be under review. Gerasimov has told reporters the laws on anti-Soviet slander, agitation and propaganda are being reviewed with the idea of softening them. He did not say how long the review would take.

In Washington, the State Department welcomed Begun’s release but called on the Kremlin to free all political prisoners and allow them to emigrate if they choose.

A department spokeswoman, Phyllis Oakley, called the release of Begun and Koryagin “positive developments,” and added, “We urge the Soviet authorities to move to release all Soviet political prisoners without requiring them to sign statements disavowing their human rights activities and permitting them to live in the country of their choice.”