Russian writer on trial on anti-Soviet charges

Anatoly Marchenko, a Soviet dissident who had already served a total of 15 years in labor camps and exile, went on trial Wednesday accused of anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, Tass news agency said. Mr. Marchenko's book "My Testimony" has been praised in the West as one of the best accounts of life in a labor camp since the Stalin era.

Meanwhile, Soviet authorities confiscated three books as the third Moscow book fair opened. It was the same fair that caused Mr. Marchenko trouble 2 years ago when the Soviet news media denounced him for accepting an invitation to a dinner held by American publishers at the fair.