A Visit to Mustafa Dzhemilev
MUSTAFA DZHEMILEV has been sent to the Far East to serve his sentence (CCE 40.3). His address is: 692710, Primorsky Region, Khasansky district, Primorsk rail station, PO Box 267/26.
This district is part of the border zone, so that it can only be visited with a pass issued by the police of the area where the traveller is registered as a resident, and if one has an invitation.
In the middle of September Mustafa’s relatives received a letter from him, asking them to come and visit him soon, as his health was very bad. Soon an invitation from the administration arrived. However, at the Tashkent city police station they would not make out a permit for the journey, stating that some point in the invitation was wrongly formulated.
On 29 September this telegram was sent to Moscow:
Moscow K-9
9 Ogaryov Street
Minister of Internal Affairs
ShchelokovTashkent police do not allow Mustafa Dzhemilev’s relatives to travel to visit him. They refuse them pass for Primorsky Region despite invitation from administration of corrective labour colony. Mustafa’s state of health desperate. Their last meeting perhaps. We ask your help to obtain quick permission for journey.
Bonner, Velikanova, Lavut, Sakharov
On the next day, Mustafa’s relatives received an assurance from Imanov, an official of the Uzbek SSR MVD, that they would soon get the pass. Immediately after this conversation they were received by the city’s police chief Malyushko. Forgetting any irregularities in the documents, he said that the pass would not be issued and that Imanov was not fully informed: “he doesn’t know everything”. “Anyway, Dzhemilev has no need of a visit,” Malyushko said.
On 30 September A. Sakharov issued a declaration addressed to Amnesty International, the UN, government leaders and political parties, also to all those fighting for human rights.
Recalling Dzhemilev’s ten-month hunger-strike and his conviction on fabricated charges, Sakharov appealed: “Demand that the Soviet authorities release Dzhemilev immediately for medical treatment in conditions of freedom; only this can save him.”
At the beginning of October Mustafa nevertheless received a visit from his brother and sister. They found that his condition had improved.
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