European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 2, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes saturday july 2,1988 a Mim a by sex Gorbachev protege seeks rehabilitation it t i ._._. . Moscow a Boris n. Yeltsin appealed to the communist party conference Friday to Clear him of blame for an attack on Reform efforts that Cost him his Job As Moscow party chief a party official said. Yeltsin a leading reformer who once was a pro Tege of soviet Leader Mikhail s. Gorbachev was fired from his Moscow Job in november but retained sufficient status in the party to be chosen As one of 5,000 delegates to the National conference. Also Friday the nation s top environmental offi Cial demanded punishment for planners responsible for pollution disasters and a reformist publisher de fended the new openness of the press. Publisher Grigory Baklanov also attacked the 1979 decision to Send soviet troops into Afghanistan and called for guarantees to ensure such a decision was not repeated. Gorbachev called the conference to assess his 3 year old Reform program and Chart a course for the future. Officials originally said the conference would run from tuesday through Friday. But Only 53 of 274 scheduled speakers had taken the floor by midday Moscow radio said. The radio reported that Gorbachev proposed the delegates wrap up their debate at Friday evening s session and begin consideration of resolutions Indi Cating the conference Likely would close saturday. Yeltsin was ousted As head of the Moscow communist party after he attacked the slow Pace of re form during a speech in october to the Central com Mittee. The speech has not been published. In his Appeal to the conference Yeltsin formulated his request saying in effect he wanted Politi Cal exoneration said Yuri s. Kara Basov a Secretary of the Moscow party apparatus and a former col league of Yeltsin. The Tass news Agency reported tersely that Yeltsin had asked for political rehabilitation and set Forth his position on a number of aspects of Peres  it provided no other details. Soviet radio and television did not immediately broadcast Yeltsin s speech indicating the sensitivity a photo soviet official Vladimir Melnikov criticizes so Viet president Andrei a. Gromyko during the communist party conference in Moscow. Of the Issue and possible uncertainty about How to present it to the Public. Yeltsin lost his Post after Gorbachev sharply criticized him for being Overly ambitious. Yeltsin was reassigned As first Deputy of the state construction committee a ministerial level Post. He was dropped from the ruling politburo in february. During the May 29-june 2 superpower Summit Yeltsin gave two interviews to Western television reporters in which he called for the resignation of the Kremlin s no. 2 official Yegor k. Migachev. He said Migachev was the party official most responsible for holding Back Gorbachev s reforms. Yeltsin was elected to the party conference As a Delegate from Karelia a far Northern Region on the Border with Finland. Kara Basov told reporters that Yeltsin s request poses a lot of  he said the term exoneration was associated with the political rehabilitation of people persecuted in times gone by. This is not a Good  political rehabilitation in the old sense of the word is not the Issue he said. President Andrei a. Gromyko criticized by a Delegate on thursday for having fallen behind the times opened Friday s session soviet television said. It provided no details. Fyodor Morgun head of the soviet Union s new environmental Protection Agency said the Rush to build giant factories had destroyed Fertile soil ruined forests raised air pollution above healthy Levels and contaminated water supplies. Those who Are responsible for the problems should be mentioned by their names and be punished according to their deserts Morgun said according to the Tass news Agency. Baklanov editor of the literary journal Namya defended glasnost or the new openness of the soviet press against a fierce attack wednesday by fellow writer Yuri Bondarev. Bondarev had accused the increasingly Independent press of extremist tendencies saying it destroys humiliates flushes Down the toilet what we lived through the past our National sacred  Baklanov branded Bondarev s speech a Dis  Tass quoted him As saying that socialism is impossible without glasnost although the press should report carefully and responsibly and a new Law regu lating its activities was needed. Tass also quoted Baklanov As lauding the decision to withdraw soviet troops from Afghanistan but at tacking the decision to Send them in As a move taken in Defiance of the machinery of  Sharleville six witness claims police falsified his testimony i world today exhibit of chinese Art Johannesburg South Africa up a state witness whose crucial evidence helped convict the Sharleville six on murder charges has written president Pieter w. Botha claiming police falsified his testimony a newspaper reported Friday. Joseph Manet who defense lawyers say gave tainted evidence in a trial that triggered International criticism of the White led South african government told Botha he was a police pressured state witness the weekly City press said. Manet also sent a letter to chief Justice . Rabie saying the five Black men and one Black woman under sentence of death by hanging Are in Nocent of the crowd killing of a Black councilman in 1984, City press said. We never comment on the state president s Cor Respondence an official in Botha s Cape town of fice said. Defense lawyer Prakash Diar pressing diminish ing Legal Steps to save the six said he will file an Appeal monday with Rabie for a second hearing in the Appeal court the nation s court of last resort. Appeals judges last december upheld death sentences on the six for the killing in the Black town ship of Sharleville South of Johannesburg. The Appeal court ruling endorsed a finding that the group acted in common cause although no evidence tied them individually to the hacking and burning murder of councilman Kuwayo Dlamini. Despite Botha s refusal to Grant clemency Diar secured a last minute stay of execution 15 hours before the scheduled March 18 hangings citing perjured evidence by Manet and another state witness whose testimony placed the six at the scene of the murder. Western nations have urged Botha to reprieve the six and european governments have warned of punitive Steps if the executions Are carried out. Damaged frigate Heads Home Manama Bahrain a the mine damaged . Missile frigate Samuel b. Roberts left the Gulf on Friday drawing a gunfire Salute from another american warship As it Rode piggyback aboard a dutch cargo vessel sailing toward the Strait of Hor Muz. The 3,600-ton Gray frigate was welded into a Cradle like framework atop the mighty servant 2, a Semi submersible ship designed for heavy lift projects and chartered by the Navy for the 9,000-mile return trip to the United states. The a Nuel b. Roberts departure came 78 Days after it stumbled into what . Officials said was a freshly Laid iranian minefield in the Central Gulf on april 14. Ten Crew members were injured when the sub merged mine ripped a 25-foot Gash in the ship s Hull wrecking the engine room and triggering fires and flooding. . Officials have said fast action by the Crew saved the ship from becoming the first warship lost to a mine in the War torn Gulf. . Forces retaliated four Days later by attacking two iranian Oil platforms in the Southern Gulf. The attacks touched off Daylong fighting in which six iranian naval Craft were sunk or disabled. The frigate which underwent weeks of preliminary repair work in a Dubai shipyard will return first to its Home port in Rhode Island then to the Bath Iron works m Maine where it was launched in 1986. Beijing a eighty classical. Dating Back to the 14th Century will be exhibited in five . Cities next year to Mark the 10th anniversary of sino american diplomatic ties an official report said Friday. The English language China daily called the Selec Tion of paintings the finest Ever allowed to leave China. It said the works Are from China s last two dynasties the Ming and qing which ruled from 1368 until a Republic was established in 1911. The paper said the paintings borrowed from the Palace museum in Beijing s former Imperial Palace will be shown first in january at the Honolulu facade my of arts in Hawaii. From there they will move to the High museum of Art in Atlanta the Cleveland museum of Art in Cleve land the metropolitan museum of Art in new York City and a fifth undecided City. Airport turns off lights As Jet approaches runway Rome a Italy s transport ministry said Fri Day it wants an explanation of Why the Airport in Reg Gie Calabria turned off its runway lights and shut Down for the night just As a jetliner from Rome with 90 people aboard was approaching for a Landing. Newspapers reported the plane was Only several Hundred Yards from the runway with its wheels Down when the lights when out but the Pilot quickly gained Altitude and flew without incident to amezia terme 100 Miles North of its original  to newspaper accounts the dc-9 of Ati a subsidiary of a italia left Rome 3 /2 hours late be cause of air traffic congestion. As it approached Reggio Calabria in the toe of the italian Boot the Airport control Tower radioed that the Airport closed at 1 . And that the Pilot had Only 11 minutes to  accounts said the Pilot tried to make the Landing on time but at 1 . Exactly the runway Wen dark