(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein was on an official visit to the Former Soviet Union, where he addressed the Russian Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament in Moscow.

He then continued on a roots tour, visiting his past – the days during which he was a “Prisoner of Conscience” and imprisoned by the Soviets.

Edelstein visits the prison, explaining he arrived there following three days in a police station, entering the prison on September 7, 1984. He explains he arrived in a sealed vehicle, gates all around, no windows, bringing one to the understanding vis-à-vis one’s plight.

Unlike in 1984, today, arriving as Knesset Speaker, he was escorted by high-ranking officials and rabbonim. He also is permitted to visit the actual cell he was held in back then.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)