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effort to obtain transfer from Vladimir prison. He eventually ended his action in November 1974 after the prison administration promised to lodge him with a
political prisoner rather than with criminals or in solitary confinement. National O
sections undertook a vigorous campaign in support of Mr Moroz. Other hunger strikes are carried on by large groups of political prisoners.
Because many of the most famous persons confined to psychiatric hospitals on account of their political or religious views had been released by 1974, there was a temporary hope that the Soviet authorities had restricted this practice. However, a number of reports emanating from the USSR in late 1974 and early 1975 (particularly in A Chronicle of Current Events) described recent instances. It appears that Soviet psychiatry is still being abused for political purposes on a regular basis.
The most well-documented current case is that of Leonid Plyushch, who has for almost two years been subjected to "treatment" with drugs in the Dniepropetrovsk special psychiatric hospital. In April 1975, on the initiative of Al's French Section and in cooperation with the International Committee of Mathematicians in Defence of Leonid Plyushch, AI sponsored an International Day for this prisoner.
Al has protested against every death sentence passed in the USSR which has come to its attention. In Soviet law the death penalty can be applied for a wide range of offences, including certain kinds of economic crimes. A number of national sections acted with particular vigour on behalf of Mikhail Leviev, a Moscow Jew sentenced to death after being convicted of large-scale misappro- priation of state property.
On 16 May 1975, the Soviet Union announced a partial amnesty for women prisoners to mark International Women's Year. The amnesty applied to women and minors serving sentences of up to 5 years, and also to mothers of minority- age children, expectant mothers, women over 55 years of age and invalids, regardless of the length of their sentence. It cut by half the remaining terms of women serving sentences of more than 5 years.
The amnesty did not apply to those women prisoners serving sentences for "especially dangerous crimes against the State", nor to "especially dangerous recidivists". Ten of Al's adopted women prisoners have been sentenced for "especially dangerous crimes against the State", and in a letter to President Nikolai Podgorny, Secretary General Martin Ennals welcomed the amnesty but expressed the hope that it be extended to include these 10 women. He also asked for confirmation that eight adopted prisoners, who should have benefited from the amnesty, had in fact been released.
Al's work for Soviet prisoners of conscience over the past year has received greater media publicity than in the past. At the same time, more groups have obtained replies from some of the Soviet authorities to whom they have written.
United Kingdom
Pat Arrowsmith, a pacifist and a staff member of the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, was the only adopted prisoner in England during 1974. She had been arrested while distributing leaflets describing how British soldiers who did not want to serve in Northern Ireland could receive help in
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