Sakharovs report being beaten by police in Gorky

Banished Soviet dissident leader Andrei Sakharov, in a statement released Monday, said he and his wife were beaten by police in the Soviet "closed" city of Gorky to which he has been exiled. The scientist said he and his wife Yelena Bonner were physically ejected from a police station in Gorky last Friday when they went to inquire about a detained friend.

The statement from the Nobel Peace Prize winner was read out at a press conference held in Dr. Sakharov's central Moscow apartment.

Dr. Sakharov said he and his wife had gone to a local police station after a friend, Yuri Shikhanovich, was arrested as he entered the building where the Sakharovs are living.