Soviets jail dissident in KGB suit

Little-Known Soviet dissident Viktor Tomachinsky was arrested just a few hours after Moscow City Court said it did not have jurisdiction in the case. That was some 24 hours before Soviet authorities signaled readiness to give in to Andrei Sakharov's hunger strike.

At this writing, it was unclear whether he was still in custody. Mrs. Tomachinsky said late Dec. 8 that she had been given to believe he would be held for three days pending an unspecified ''investigation.''

Mr. Tomachinsky had told the court that government officials told him earlier in the year that he and his family could emigrate. He quit his job. The visas have still not come through, and he wants some $19,000 in damages to cover money he might have earned in the United States had the authorities kept their ''verbal contract.''