Buddhists from Estonia Expelled - Göteborgs-Posten, February 1988

Original article in Swedish

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Göteborgs-Posten, February 1988

About this article

Newspaper	Göteborgs-Posten, Gothenburg, Sweden (circulation c. 288,000, 7 days a week); clipping from the press-cutting agency AB Pressurklipp, Stockholm
Date	February 1988, the day after the arrival of Vello Väärtnõu and Eke-Pärt Nõmm in Sweden on Saturday, 13 February 1988 (so probably 14 February 1988)
Author	Byline faint and only partly legible (ending "...HÖGLUND")
Language	Swedish
Subject	The expulsion of the two Estonian Buddhists Eke-Pärt Nõmm and Vello Väärtnõu: the Soviet ultimatum, the founding of a new political party at a public meeting in Tartu, the authorities' wish to send them to Israel on the Jewish emigration quota, their journey to Moscow to apply for Swedish visas, and Vello's comments on glasnost and Gorbachev.
Photo	Eke-Pärt Nõmm and Vello Väärtnõu outdoors; "EST" handwritten on the photo
Condition of the clipping	The scan is a faint photocopy; a few words at the end are hard to read and are marked [?].

Buddister från Estland utvisade

De sovjetiska myndigheterna gav Eke-Pärt Numm och Vello Väärtnõu, två estniska buddister, ett ultimatum:

– Om ni inte utvandrar förvisas ni till Sibirien.

I går kom de landsförvisade till Sverige – för att kunna vara så nära sitt hemland som möjligt.

För två veckor sedan var männen med om att bilda ett nytt politiskt parti vid ett offentligt möte i Tartu. En vecka senare kom myndigheternas ultimatum.

Men att åka till den sibiriska kylan självmant bara för deras politiska ståndpunkt inte är förenlig med den officiella sovjetiska synen var det inte tal om.

Helst ville myndigheterna att männen skulle åka till Israel, och trots att de är buddister räknas in i kvoten för utvandrande judar.

Men det ville inte Eke-Pärt och Vello.

I stället åkte de till Moskva där de kontaktade svenska ambassaden för att ansöka om visum.

I går kom de till Sverige.

– Ur humanistisk synpunkt har man kunnat märka "glasnost" lite grand i Estland men reellt har den betytt lite. Polisen fortsätter till exempel att förfölja nationalister som förut, sade Vello Väärtnõu till svenska journalister och tillade:

– Även om Gorbatjov menar allvar med "glasnost" kommer han inte att lyckas eftersom partiet – den röda maffian – inte kommer att tillåta mer demokrati.

Båda esterna kommer att arbeta för det nybildade partiet, [?]nationella självständighetspartiet, i Sverige.

[?]HÖGLUND

Bildtext

I går kom de landsförvisade estniska buddisterna till Sverige.

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This translation is provided by AI

Göteborgs-Posten, February 1988

About this article

This short report appeared in the Gothenburg daily Göteborgs-Posten the day after Vello Väärtnõu and Eke-Pärt Nõmm arrived in Sweden in February 1988. It calls them "two Estonian Buddhists" and tells how the Soviet authorities wanted to send them to Israel on the Jewish emigration quota, which they refused. It quotes Vello on glasnost: the police in Estonia go on persecuting nationalists, and even if Gorbachev means it seriously, "the red mafia" of the party will not allow more democracy.

Buddhists from Estonia Expelled

The Soviet authorities gave Eke-Pärt Nõmm and Vello Väärtnõu, two Estonian Buddhists, an ultimatum:

"If you do not emigrate, you will be exiled to Siberia."

Yesterday the exiles came to Sweden, in order to be as close to their homeland as possible.

Two weeks ago the men took part in founding a new political party at a public meeting in Tartu. A week later came the authorities' ultimatum.

But going voluntarily to the Siberian cold just because their political standpoint is not compatible with the official Soviet view was out of the question.

The authorities would have preferred the men to go to Israel, and, although they are Buddhists, to be counted in the quota for emigrating Jews.

But Eke-Pärt and Vello did not want that.

Instead they went to Moscow, where they contacted the Swedish embassy to apply for visas.

Yesterday they came to Sweden.

"From a humanist point of view one has been able to notice 'glasnost' a little bit in Estonia, but in reality it has meant little. The police, for example, continue to persecute nationalists as before," Vello Väärtnõu told Swedish journalists, and added:

"Even if Gorbachev is serious about 'glasnost', he will not succeed, because the party, the red mafia, will not allow more democracy."

Both Estonians will work for the newly founded party, the [?]National Independence Party, in Sweden.

[?]HÖGLUND

Photo caption

Yesterday the exiled Estonian Buddhists came to Sweden.

Notes

• The last sentence and the byline are very faint in the photocopy; the words marked [?] should be checked against the original. The byline seems to end "HÖGLUND".