Youri EGOROV

Translated using translation software (edited by your webmaster) The Russian pianist who fled from Brescia asked to stay in Italy. Rome - To apply for political asylum, he used the scales. Juri Yegorov, the young Soviet pianist who had appeared in Bresica under certain circumstances, is in Rome. He asked for the protection of the Italian authorities. The most diverse hypotheses had already been put forward because the story was tinted with yellow when the news came that the pianist had asked to stay in Italy. Juri Yegorov was sent by the Soviet authorities themselves to participate in the 8th contemporary music festival and was not on the stage of the Teatro Grande in Brescia on Monday evening, where he should have played some works by Dimitri Shostakovich, the great Russian musician, this along with an Italian pianist (Carlo Levi Minzi). The audience and the organizers spent more than an hour waiting, but were then forced to replace the young Soviet promise with an Italian pianist. Juri Yegorov was meanwhile working on the implementation of his plan: a plan that has certainly been adopted in recent days, but that seems to have worked well. From Brescia he reached Milan and then Rome. He only arrived late Tuesday night at the police station, late at night. He turned himself to an officer of the office of foreign affairs and spoke the ritual sentence for refugees: < I request political asylum - he said in English - and I entrust myself to the Italian authorities >. That statement was sufficient for the now-warned office manager. Juri Yegorov had to explain the reason and the different reasons for his gesture to the international committee that meets in Trieste and that examines the applications for political asylum carefully. It is up to such a court to decide whether the reasons given are really valid or whether they should be rejected, and inviting the interested party to leave the country that hosts it. A practice that is not always easy to follow and for which the 1971 Geneva Convention provides the rules. < The reasons that may have led the Soviet musician to request political asylum - said a political office official tonight - do not relate to the police authorities. It is our duty to take note of the request of a foreigner who turns to us and to guarantee his protection. Juri Yegorov is currently in a hotel and is under constant supervision >. The news of the pianist's arrival in Rome and of his request for political asylum was not known until yesterday morning and put an end to the hectic investigation that began two days ago in Brescia. From the < Vittoria> hotel, where he arrived from Moscow last Thursday to participate in the international contemporary music festival, Juri Yegorov disappeared on Monday, shortly after 3 p.m. He had left his luggage and had left by taxi. He had thought of a relaxing walk before a demanding evening concert. This is easy to understand, given that Yegorov was not one of the pianists invited by the organizers of the event, but was sent by the Soviet authorities who had refused to let another ten Russian musicians participate in the event. A bit of nervousness for such a test for an attentive and strict audience that would have demanded an excellent performance was understandable. Juri Yegorov, on the other hand, had very different thoughts. Not worried about his professional commitment, he was on a train to Milan with a friend. In Brescia, meanwhile, the audience waited for the crowd of the Teatro Grande in vain for the young Soviet revelation. The rest is now known. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must be consulted in this case and has already been informed. The case of Juri Yegorov has also found parliamentary resonance. Parliament's Liberal Group Chairman, Quilleri, asked a question to the Minister of domestic affairs last night to insist - as the document states - on an immediate positive response, in line with Italy's democratic traditions and spirit of the Helsinki Pact, to the request for political asylum submitted by the Russian pianist. Marcello Marrocco