Two Kiev group members, Berdnyk and Lytvyn, sentenced (12/30/79)

Two Kiev group members, Berdnyk and Lytvyn, sentenced

MOSCOW, USSR. - Oles Berdnyk, a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki group, was sentenced by a Soviet court on Friday, December 21, to six years' imprisonment and three years' exile for his involvement in the human rights movement, according to the "Smoloskyp" Ukrainian Information Service.

Reuters reported, on the basis of information supplied by Dr. Andrei Sakharov, that Berdnyk had gone on trial in Kiev on Wednesday, December 19.

Berdnyk, one of the 10 founding members of the Kiev Public Group to Promote Implementation of the Helsinki Accords, is a poet and a science fiction writer.

He has already served a term of imprisonment for alleged "anti-Soviet activity."

MOSCOW, USSR. - Yuriy Lytvyn, a member of the Kiev Public Group to Promote Implementation of the Helsinki Accords, was sentenced on Monday, December 17, to three years of imprisonment for allegedly "resisting the authorities."

News of the sentencing was announced by academician Andrei Sakharov, reported Reuters.

Lytvyn is the ninth member of the Kiev group to be sentenced for his activity in the group. He previously served 15 years of hard labor for alleged "anti-Soviet activity."

At present the Kiev Helsinki group consists of 33 members. Of the original 10 members only two, Oksana Meshko and Ivan Kandyba, remain free.

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