[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 111 (Thursday, August 2, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1497-E1498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    THE EIGHTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTHDAY OF DR. ANDREI SAKHAROV

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 1, 2001

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on May 21 of this year human rights advocates 
in Russia and all over the world marked the 80th'' anniversary of the 
birth of celebrated scientist and human rights advocate, Dr. Andrei 
Sakharov.
  As a Soviet scientist and citizen of the world, Andrei Sakharov 
combined a brilliant intellect with a deep concern for humanity. He was 
the youngest member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. After World War 
II, Sakharov worked as a theoretical physicist and received the Soviet 
Union's highest award three times for his scientific accomplishments in 
the field of thermonuclear weapons development.
  By the late 1960s, however, his protests against nuclear testing and 
calls for greater intellectual freedom had made him a pariah to the 
Kremlin. The publication of his seminal essay, ``Progress, Coexistence, 
and Intellectual Freedom,'' brought him international attention and 
respect. In 1970, Sakharov and fellow activists Valery Chalidze and 
Andrei Tverdokhlebov founded the Moscow Human Rights Committee to help 
Soviet citizens secure the rights theoretically granted to them under 
the Soviet Constitution. As journalist David Remnick wrote recently, 
``his modest apartment on Chkalova Street in Moscow seemed the moral 
center of an immoral empire.''
  In 1975, as a result of his human rights advocacy and his work toward 
genuine detente

[[Page E1498]]

between the West and the Soviet bloc, Dr. Sakharov was awarded the 
Nobel Peace Prize. In the words of the Chairman of the Nobel Committee:

       Sakharov's fearless personal commitment in upholding the 
     fundamental principles for peace between men is a powerful 
     inspiration for all true workers for peace. Uncompromisingly 
     and with unflagging strength Sakharov has fought against the 
     abuse of power and all forms of violation of human dignity, 
     and he has fought

  True to form, Moscow would not allow Dr. Sakharov to travel to Oslo 
to receive the honor. Dr. Elena Bonner, his energetic wife and partner 
in the human rights struggle, accepted the prize in his stead and 
delivered his Nobel lecture, ``Peace, Progress, and Human Rights.'' 
Ironically, on the same day that Dr. Sakharov was receiving by proxy 
the Noble Peace Prize, December 10, 1975, the recipient himself was in 
Vilnius, Lithuania attending the political trial of Sergei Kovalev, a 
fellow scientist and colleague in the struggle for human rights.
  By 1980, the Kremlin and KGB had decided that this soft-spoken 
scientist who kept talking about human rights violations and political 
prisoners, as well as criticizing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 
could no longer be allowed to speak his mind freely and to meet with 
foreign journalists. He was picked up on the streets of Moscow and, 
without a shred of judicial process, sent into ``internal exile'' in 
the city of Gorky about 300 kilometers east of Moscow. Even at this 
distance he could not be silenced, although the KGB did its best to 
harass him. Through Dr. Bonner, Dr. Sakharov continued to appeal for 
justice for the victims of human rights violations and to call on the 
international scientific community to work together for peace and 
disarmament.
  By the late 1980's, however, Soviet authorities understood that the 
Soviet system could not compete with the rest of the world by 
repressing its best minds and criminalizing dissent. In December 1986, 
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev called Dr. Sakharov and invited him to 
return to Moscow ``to resume his patriotic work.'' What Gorbachev had 
in mind is unclear. Nevertheless, in April 1989, in the first genuinely 
contested national elections since Lenin dissolved the Constituent 
Assembly in 1918, Sakharov was elected to the Congress of People's 
Deputies where he resumed his ``patriotic work'' advancing the ideas of 
liberty and human rights for the Soviet people.
  Mr. Speaker, at one point during a session of the Congress of 
People's Deputies, General Secretary Gorbachev turned off Dr. 
Sakharov's microphone in an effort to silence his arguments against the 
privileged position of the Communist Party under the Soviet 
Constitution. At that time, as Co-Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, 
I compared Dr. Sakharov's actions with those of former President John 
Quincy Adams who, as a Member of the United States House of 
Representatives, absolutely refused to be silenced on the subject of 
slavery despite the existence of the so-called ``gag rule.''
  Tragically, Dr. Sakharov succumbed to a heart attack on December 
14th, 1989, eight months after his election to the Congress of People's 
Deputies.
  Some 50,000 people, along with foreign dignitaries and fellow members 
of the Congress of People's Deputies, gathered at the Palace of Youth 
to say farewell to their hero and colleague. And, yes, the KGB was also 
in attendance. Chairman Kryuchkov filed a report to the Party 
leadership that can now be found on the Internet.
  Mr. Speaker, through the kindness of Dr. Elena Bonner, today Dr. 
Sakharov's papers are available to researchers and the public at the 
Sakharov Archive at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. This 
archive is an invaluable contribution to world literature on human 
rights and international peace, and I hope that it will find generous 
support from the American people.
  May Dr. Sakharov's example inspire us in the years to come.

                          ____________________