ROANOKE TIMES
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003092112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short


LONGEST-TERM APPLICANT ALLOWED TO EMIGRATE

Eighteen years after applying, Soviet molecular biologist Vladimir Raiz and his wife, Carmella, have received permission to emigrate to Israel, a New York congressman said Thursday.

Raiz, who was denied an exit permit on grounds he knew state secrets, is the longest-term Jewish refusenik in the Soviet Union. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman, R-N.Y., said Raiz was allowed to depart after Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev interceded.

Raiz, of Vilnius, Lithuania, was fired from his job at the Institute of Molecular Biology after applying for an exit permit in 1972. His wife has been in Washington on a tourist visa, trying to bring pressure on Moscow. A demonstration had been scheduled outside the Soviet Embassy.

Carmella Raiz also was dismissed from her job as first violinist of the Vilna Philharmonic Orchestra. They have two sons, Moshe, 12, and Shaul, 8, and are observant Jews.

- Associated Press



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