Shortly after Natalya Lazarevo’s most recent arrest (see last month’s issueof” Orthodox America”), the KGB obtained from her a “confession” under psychological treatment exactly as they did with Fr. Dimitry Dudko. As she herself asked before her arrest, and as the “Maria” movement has since then confirmed, this should make one all the more determined to make her case known.

On June 28, in Leningrad, her trial began. Natalya pleaded guilty according to Article 70 of the Criminal Code, “Anti- Soviet agitation and propaganda,” in preparing and distributing material for the journal “Maria.” Despite the fact that she confessed and repented, the severe sentence- 4 years’ concentration camp and 2 years’ internal exile-indicates that there is more to the case then what is presently known.

Please pray for Natalya, and make this blatant violation of human rights known to your Congressman and others.

(KNS; “Possev,” july, 1982)