Soviets Concede They Hold 52 as Political Prisoners

A Soviet official said Friday that 52 people remain in prison or exile for offenses regarded by the West as political but that their cases are all under review.

Vadim V. Zagladin, an adviser to President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, said at a joint news conference with U.S. congressmen that under new legislation, the offenses most were charged with “will no longer be considered as crimes.”

His figures appeared to mark a move toward Western estimates of Soviet political prisoners. Two weeks ago, Soviet spokesmen said there were only 11.

The issue was the focus of three days of talks here this week between the congressmen, members of a human rights commission, and Soviet officials.

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said the commission had heard that 147 of the 800 people on a U.S. list of people barred from leaving the country were free to go or had already left.