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Friday September 13, 1996

Belarussian Jewish teen is granted asylum

NATALIE WEINSTEIN
Bulletin Staff

Yuri Disman, the Belarussian Jewish teen seeking asylum in the United States, won't be forced to return home.

On Monday morning, a letter from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service arrived at his attorney's office. The letter, dated Sept. 6, informed the 15-year-old boy that he had been granted asylum because he had "established a well-founded fear of persecution."

"Now I have a lot to thank God for this Rosh Hashanah," Disman said a few hours after hearing the news.

The boy's asylum application detailed numerous anti-Semitic incidents he suffered in his hometown of Gomel. They included constant taunts and beatings by schoolmates that apparently were ignored by teachers, administrators and police.

Disman arrived in San Francisco in July 1995 for a yearlong program sponsored by the Jewish Educational Center that was touted as a way to aid children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.

The boy abruptly left the program in early June, about two weeks before he was scheduled to return home. He alleges mistreatment; JEC officials deny the charge.

Since then, Disman has lived in a group home under the auspices of the San Francisco Department of Human Services. He applied for asylum in early July.

The boy's parents and older brother remain in Belarus, a former Soviet Republic. Disman said he called his mother on Monday morning after he heard the news. "She was really happy," he said.

Mark Vosko, the former coordinator for the "Chernobyl kids" program who befriended Disman, was thrilled too."It's like we beat Darth Vader," Vosko said. "We had a small chance, a ray of hope."

Vosko is hoping community members will help pay the boy's living expenses.

Neil Grungras, Disman's immigration attorney, wasn't available for comment this week. But Grungras' law partner Merle Kahn confirmed receiving the letter from the INS asylum office in San Francisco.

A year from now, Kahn said, Disman will be able to apply for permanent resident status and receive a green card. Four years later, the boy can apply for citizenship.

If Disman's asylum application had been rejected, he wouldn't have faced automatic deportation. He would have been allowed to appeal before an immigration judge.

The boy has applied to attend Hebrew Academy, an Orthodox day school in San Francisco where the majority of high school students are from the former Soviet Union. He will be able to leave the group home as soon as a legal guardian or foster home is established, said Darren Kessler, the boy's court-appointed attorney who has been handling the custody issues in the case.

Rabbi Yosef Langer, who heads San Francisco's Chabad House, is trying to help Disman find a Jewish home.

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