Write-a-thon for Soviets Draws 2900 Signatures

Kitty Dukakis, Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz, and three recent emigres from the Soviet Union joined in the third annual write-a-thon for Soviet refuseniks yesterday on the steps of Widener Library.

The seven-hour event, organized by Harvard Students for Soviet Jewry, gathered signatures on roughly 1900 letters and about 1000 signatures on petitions on behalf of 13 Jews who have been denied permission to immigrate to the U.S. or Israel. Several scholars from Harvard and MIT also spoke at the write-a-thon.

The letters will be sent to Soviet officials, professors and doctors to urge them to push for the refuseniks' release, organizers said. The Harvard students said they are sending the petitions to President Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

Dukakis said she and her husband. Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, have been writing letters for the release of refuseniks for several years.

"The amount of protest has made a difference in the past," she said. "Many of the people we were writing about are out now. But its still a real tyranny there."

Dershowitz said he has worked to free Jews and others from the Soviet Union by filing legal briefs on their behalfs.

"Standing up for the Soviet refuseniks is part and parcel for standing up for human rights around the world," Dershowitz told about 30 people in the Yard.

Members of one of the families Dershowitz worked to release, the Gudava family, were at the write-a-thon to help publicize the plight of Soviet refuseniks.

"I take my being here as a complete miracle," said Tenghiz Gudava through a translator. Gudava, a musician, arrived in Boston from the Soviet Union three weeks ago with his mother Raisa, his brother Edward, Edward's wife Marina and their son Zurab.

"Three months ago, my brother and I were in prison and now we are able to stand here on these steps," Gudava said, adding that Dershowitz was largely responsible for his release from the Soviet Union.

Melissa B. Milgram '88, a coorganizer of the event, said that 400,000 Jews have applied for exit visas, 5000 of whom have received them this year.

Funding for the letters and petitions comes from the Harvard Hillel, Jewish Students Project, Inc. of Boston, and private donations, organizers said.