Verigin Free

The Community of Christians of the Universal Brotherhood, as Western Canada's sect of Doukhobors call themselves, breathed easier last month when their leader, Peter Verigin II, was saved from deportation to Russia (TIME, Feb. 13). Locked up at immigration headquarters in Halifax, Leader Verigin admonished his followers to keep calm. "Do not follow the example of the foolish Sons of Freedom [fanatical inner Doukhobor sect], provocators who have been banished from the land [for going naked] and with whom we have nothing to do whatever. . . . Pay punctually all your taxes and obligations and conduct yourselves in an honorable and businesslike manner."

This sounded reasonable to the Halifax Supreme Court, which was further informed that the Doukhobors had been offered refuge in Mexico; that Peter Verigin II alone knows the disposition of the Brotherhood's $20,000,000 capital; that Doukhobor affairs would have to be administered from Russia were he sent there. Last week the Supreme Court reversed the deportation order, freed Peter Verigin II.

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