Sakharov and Chalidze have recently been discussing the question of expanding the so-called Human Rights Committee by enlisting new members, in particular Academician M. A. Leontovich. In this regard, Chalidze stated: “If Leontovich would join the Committee now, the question of the Committee's stability would be solved, even in the absence of Tverdokhlebov and myself.” Later Sakharov told Chalidze that he had had a conversation with Leontovich, who declined to join the “Committee,” but promised to help in its activities.

At a regular meeting in June, members of the “Committee” discussed a report by R. A. Medvedev … “On Politically Motivated Compulsory Psychiatric Hospitalizations” and the comments on this report by an “expert,” A. S. Esenin-Volpin. As a result of the discussion, the “Committee” adopted an “Appeal” to the forthcoming World Congress of Psychiatrists, which will meet in Mexico this November.

Through this “Appeal” they intend to draw the attention of the Congress to certain specific questions related to the rights of persons certified as mentally ill. In the opinion of the “Committee,” there are some legal and medical aspects to the problem of “politically motivated compulsory psychiatric hospitalizations” which require further study and democratization [sic].

As a result, the “Committee” intends to present the following proposals for discussion at the Congress:

Recently Sakharov and Chalidze have been trying to expand the “Committee's” activity by studying such problems as “psychiatry, political persecutions, and nationalism.”

In June and July the Committee took steps to establish and extend contacts with various foreign human rights organizations. On June 29 the president of the “International League for the Rights of Man,” J. Carey, informed the Committee by phone that the “League” had accepted the “Committee” as a member. The same day, Carey announced this at a press conference in New York and declared that the “Committee's” affiliation with the “International League for the Rights of Man” is an “important historical event.” The “International League for the Rights of Man” was established in 1941, in the USA. It unites 31 national organizations in the United States, England, West Germany, Japan, Israel, and other countries; it has about 1, 200 individual members. The “League's” budget is 8,000 dollars, which come from membership fees and private contributions. The “League's” mission is “to foster the implementation of the guarantees of political liberties not only in relations among states, but especially their observance within states.” In reality, the activity of the “League” often assumes, under the influence of reactionary circles, a sharply anti-Soviet, anticommunist character. The “League” has consultative status with the U.N. (category B),

“Category B” refers to the accreditation of a group of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) at the United Nations; another name for it is “special consultative status.” “Category A” is applied to NGOs with mass constituencies, such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

and maintains contacts with UNESCO and the International Labor Organization. Commenting on the “Committee's” joining the “League” at a regular gathering of the “Committee,” Chalidze declared that “for the first time in half a century, a nongovernmental public association, which is not under the control of the Party or the government, has managed not only to survive for more than a half a year, but also to establish contacts abroad.””

In July, in a telephone conversation with René Cassin (president of the “International Institute for Human Rights” in Strasbourg, France; also a professor and winner of the Nobel Prize), Chalidze agreed to the “Committee's” joining the said “Institute” as a collective member. Simultaneously, he gave the “Institute” the publication rights to the collections of essays on “Problems of Society” that he had compiled. Chalidze designated Rigerman, who recently left the Soviet Union and now resides in New York, as the “Committee's” representative for publication of the “collections.” We have also established that Chalidze is attempting to establish contacts with other foreign organizations (“Amnesty International,” “International Front,” and others). As can be seen, the “Committee's” members are establishing contacts with foreign organizations in an effort to raise its authority in world public opinion and strengthen its position inside the country. The increased frequency of contacts between Chalidze and foreign visitors to the Soviet Union attests to the fact that hostile propaganda centers are taking a noticeably greater interest in the “Committee.”

On July 21, Chalidze was visited by a correspondent of the Chicago Daily News, G. Geyer, who came to the USSR as a tourist. Her purpose was to obtain an interview about the “Committee's” program and its practical activity. Responding to her questions, Chalidze took pains to underline the scholarly nature of the “Committee's” activity.

On August 9, Chalidze gave to Axelbank (a correspondent for the American press agency NANA),

North American News Agency. Jay Axelbank was the Moscow bureau chief for Newsweek. His interview with Sakharov was the first to be published by a Western correspondent; see Newsweek, November 13, 1972.

material in defense of Kukui and Paladnik,

The name of Raisa Palatnik was misspelled; she was arrested in December 1971 in Odessa, accused of disseminating samizdat, and sentenced to a labor camp for two years. Valery Kukui, an engineer from Sverdlovsk, tried to emigrate to Israel. He was arrested in March 1971 and sentenced to two years in a labor camp.

who were convicted of disseminating slanderous documents.