POLISH DEFECTOR ANGERED BY DENIAL OF SWISS VISA

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00552R000707360005-5
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 23, 2016
Document Release Date: 
December 8, 2011
Sequence Number: 
5
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
August 9, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00552R000707360005-5.pdf65.83 KB
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STAT Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707360005-5 ARTICLE APPEW ON PA( WASHINGTON TIMES 9 August 1985 Polish defector angered by denial of Swiss visa THE WASHINGTON TIMES A former Polish diplomat who defected to the West in 1981 said yester- day he believes he was denied a Swiss visa to attend a conference in Geneva because of political considerations. Zdzislaw Rurarz, the former Polish ambassador to Japan, said the Swiss Embassy in Washington notified him yes- terday that his visa application was denied because officials here and in Swit- zerland were not aware the conference was taking place, even through more than 200 professors from 90 countries will attend the meeting next week. He called the Swiss explanation "ridic- ulous" and said that, "knowing the Swiss as I do, they don't want to get in trouble with political emigres from the Soviet bloc" "I was the only one singled out not to participate,' Mr. Rurarz said. "If they had said it [was denied] on security grounds, I would understand. But their arguments are very unconvincing." Officials of the Swiss Embassy were unavailable for comment late last night. Mr. Rurarz and Gordon Anderson, assistant director of the World Peace Academy, which is sponsoring the six- day conference which opens TLesday in Geneva, said they were told by Swiss offi=cials that Mr. Rurarz's visa was denied because the Berne government did not know the conference was taking place. Mr. Anderson said that with the excep- tion of a Soviet emigre who had trouble getting visa approval, Mr. Rurarz is apparently the only person scheduled toattend the conference who was denied entry into Switzerland. "I can't rule out political influence, although I have no solid grounds to make that charge;' Mr. Anderson said. The World Peace Academy conference will focus on the future of the Soviet Union "after the fall of the Soviet empire;" according to Mr. Anderson. The World Peace Academy is a division of the International Cultural Foundation, founded by the Rev Sun Myung Moon. Mr. Rurarz, who was to have delivered a paper at the conference, served as a Polish diplomat in Switzerland for seven years before his defection. He said yesterday Swiss authorities are aware of that fact and may have denied his visa application because they could not assure his security or because his visit might prompt a protest from the Polish government. "They may feel they can't provide security, and if they said that, fine;" Mr. Rurarz said. "But claiming they don't know of a conference attended by 200 people is ridiculous." He noted he had not asked the Swiss government for an special security arrangements. "Usually the Swiss do not give visas to defectors like me, especially to those who were posted in Switzerland;' he said. "They feel that could create problems for Swiss relations" with Poland or the Soviet Union. Mr. Rurarz, who lives in the Washing- ton area and travels on a Justice Depart- ment document issued to political refugees, said he has had no previous difficulty in obtaining visas from other Western European governments. Mr. Rurarz defected in lbkyo on Dec. 23, 1981, days after martial law was imposed in Poland, while serving as War- saw's ambassador to Japan. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707360005-5