Avital Shcharansky

Avital Shcharansky was a Soviet-Israeli human-rights activist. Born in Ukraine in 1948, she was a Jewish dissident who applied to emigrate to Israel in 1973 but was denied and subsequently harassed by the KGB. She became a spokesperson for dissidents, using her English skills to communicate with Western journalists.1

In 1977, her husband, Anatoly Shcharansky, was arrested and accused of treason and espionage, receiving a 13-year prison sentence. Avital, who had adopted the Hebrew name Avital, championed his cause from Jerusalem and abroad until his release in a prisoner exchange in 1986. She later emigrated to Israel with her husband. Her activism highlighted the human rights abuses within the Soviet Union.12