109
sentence, later reduced on appeal to 121⁄2 years, also for alleged economic espionage.
On 31 October 1974 the Bulgarian Assembly approved an amnesty bill which applied to all Bulgarian citizens who had left the country illegally and who wished to return by the end of 1975. The amnesty law, however, does not affect those who have been deprived of their Bulgarian citizenship, nor those considered "dangerous recidivists”.
}
In April 1975, AI received further details about a dozen imprisoned or banished persons in Bulgaria. Banishment or "compulsory re-settlement" to labour-corrective communities is still being practiced widely in Bulgaria without any judicial interference. Some reports say that banishment can be life-long, as in the case of Ivan Sirakov, who was expelled by a police order in January 1968 from his native city Sofia to permanent residence in the remote provincial town of Biala. According to Mr. Sirakov, who succeeded in escaping to Austria in autumn 1974, Biala has a large psychiatric institution where several dissident intellectuals are being kept without any medical justification.
At present AI is working on 12 cases in Bulgaria.
Cyprus
On 28 June 1974, Amnesty International Secretary General Martin Ennals, wrote to Archbishop Makarios, the President of Cyprus, requesting him to ini- tiate an independent investigation into allegations of torture made by members of the EOKA B organization against the Cypriot security forces. The Secretary General recognized that the government was faced with problems of maintaining peace and order, but expressed the hope that "...what appears to be a lawless vendetta between official security forces and the EOKA B can be brought within the jurisdiction of the law courts of Cyprus, in which Amnesty International has the utmost confidence".
On 15 July 1974 there was a coup d'etat in Cyprus, the eventual outcome of which was the landing on the island of Turkish troops and the fall of the military regime in Greece. AI received many appeals for help from Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, but in the early stages of the conflict, there was no possibility of effective AI action. By the end of August 1974, AI received more detailed information about prisoners, other than prisoners-of-war, and on 29 August 1974, Martin Ennals wrote to Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit asking for information about the treatment of Greek Cypriots who had been taken to the Turkish mainland.
In October 1974 the Secretary General wrote to the Acting President of Cyprus, Glafkos Clerides, appealing to the Cyprus government to reconsider its reported plans to introduce the death penalty in cases of illegal arms carrying. At the same time, AI Deputy Secretary General Hans Ehrenstrale, visited the Cypriot High Commissioner in London, Costas Ashiotis, to discuss Al's position on capital punishment.
In February 1975 appeals were still being received for help in tracing missing persons and the Deputy Secretary General wrote to the new Turkish Prime Minister, Sadi Irmak, to ask whether any Greek Cypriots were still held on the Turkish mainland. Inquiries about missing individuals were addressed to