Document no. 31: addressed to L. Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Issued on March 12,1980. The document defends Catholic Committee Secretary Viktor Kapitanchiuk, Aleksandr Ogorodnikov, the founder of the Russian Orthodox Religious Seminar, and others arrested on religious grounds.
Document no. 32: issued on June 21, 1980. We reprint the text in full:
"To: The Central Committee of the LSSR
Communist Party and the Government of Lithuania
"This year agents of the State Security Committee arrested four fighters for the rights of Lithuania's believers, Povilas Buzas, Anastazas Janulis, [Miss] Genovaite Navickaitė, and [Miss] Ona Vitkauskaitė, charging them with slandering the Soviet system. The prisoners are being prosecuted. It is generally claimed that they will be punished for printing and distributing the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania.
"Are Buzas, Janulis, Navickaitė, and Vitkauskaitė criminals? No! We have interviewed many persons who know the prisoners well. All confirm that they are decent Lithuanians and exemplary Catholics whose moral caliber can only be envied. To accuse such people of slandering and defaming the Soviet system is unscrupulous and base.
"If the basic human rights of believers were not being violated in Soviet Lithuania and if attempts were not made to administer the Church through the Regulations for Religious Association and various unpublished instructions, there would be no Chronicle recording the facts of discrimination against believers and the Church.
"The faithful of Lithuania constantly confront various obstacles, and it is, therefore, totally logical that there would appear people who, wishing to defend believers and lacking any other means, are making public the things which need improvement. Is it necessary to put behind bars those people who fight to have the Soviet Constitution upheld, and international agreements ratified by the Soviet Government observed, and so that consideration be given a person's dignity? The state must respect such people. All must bow their heads before the truth. One must have the courage to honestly examine the errors made, regardless of how great they are. It is a grievous illusion to attempt to conceal the injury being done to the faithful, and a crime to achieve this goal by torturing innocent people. What will history say?
"We state in the name of God, truth, and the believing nation: free the innocent Povilas Buzas, Anastazas Janulis, Genovaitė Navickaitė, and Ona Vitkauskaitė!
Members of the Catholic Committee
For the Defense of Believers' Rights:
Rev. Jonas Kauneckas, Rev. Alfonsas Svarinskas,
Rev. Sigitas Tamkevičius, Rev. Vincas Vėlavičius,
and Rev. Juozas Zdebskis"
Document no. 33: issued on June 21,1980. The Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist Party is given many examples of the discrimination against religious believers in Lithuania and is told that the"current problems of Lithuania's believers and priests cannot be solved from a position of force or by accusing anyone of'extremism.' " It is suggested that the indicated problems be examined and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union be informed that Lithuania's priests and believers want complete freedom of religion, whose principles are listed in the "Declaration on Religious Freedom" adopted by the Second Vatican Council.
Document no. 34: issued on July 21, 1980. We reprint the document in its entirety:
"An Appeal
To the Signatory Governments of
the Helsinki Final Act
and All People of Good Will
"In 1974 the Supreme Court of the Lithuanian SSR sentenced Petras Plumpa-Pliuira to eight years of correctional work to be served in strict-regime labor camps. His crime was that, availing himself of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he duplicated the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, which records instances of discrimination against believers.
"Petras Plumpa-Pliuiras is not a criminal but a Lithuanian of high moral caliber, an exemplary Catholic, and the father of three children. We can only be proud of such individuals, and their judicial persecution is an unjustifiable violation of basic human rights.
"At this time Petras Plumpa-Pliuiras is serving his sentence in strict-regime Labor Camp VS 389/35 in the Perm Region. He is living under inhumanely severe conditions. His wife, Aldona Pliuiriene, has informed us, on the basis of accounts by her husband's friends, that because of poor health 'he is unable to meet work quotas, and the administration does not treat him but often punishes him severely/ keeping him in a punishment cell. Since March 1979 his wife has not received a single letter from him, nor has she been allowed to visit him or send him the food packages to which prisoners are entitled.
"All of this information is witness to the fact that Petras Plumpa-Pliuiras is imprisoned under unbearable conditions, leading to the conclusion that, with his sentence approaching its conclusion, an attempt is being made to completely destroy his health.
"Therefore, we appeal to the governments which signed the Helsinki Final Act and all of the world's people of good will and ask your support on behalf of this noble Lithuanian!
"We also take this opportunity to report that for a similar 'crime,' i.e., for distributing information regarding the discrimination against believers, four completely innocent Lithuanians are awaiting trial: Povilas Buzas, Anastazas Janulis, IMiss] Genovaitė Navickaitė, and [Miss] Ona Vitkauskaitė. It is vital that the fact of their persecution be raised at the Madrid Conference, called to verify compliance with the Helsinki agreements.
The Catholic Committee for the Defense
of Believers' Rights:
Rev. Jonas Kauneckas, Rev. Alfonsas Svarinskas,
Rev. Sigitas Tamkevičius, Rev. Vincas Velavičius,
and Rev. Juozas Zdebskis"
