A foul affair.

ALTHOUGH THE fate of Miroslav Medved has long been sealed, there remain some distributing questions concerning the treatment of the would-be defector. First, there is speculation as to whether the person who was taken off the ship to be interviewed by State Department officials three days later was in fact the same person who jumped off the ship in the first place. Joseph Wyman, the Louisiana jeweler who first encountered Medved, claims that the sailor taken off the Marshal Konev for questioning was not the same person he originally saw. There seems to be no U.S. Government official who was present on both occasions. Although Medved spoke only Ukrainian and Polish, the person taken off the ship signed and edited a statement of his intention to return to the Soviet Union that was written in Russian. A Chicago handwriting expert has concluded that the handwriting of the first sailor does not match that of the edited version of the statement. State Department photographs reportedly show two markedly different individuals.

But even if Sailor B was indeed Medved, the interview was inept, to put it mildly. The Air Force psychiatrist examining the sailor concluded that he jumped ship and sought asylym "primarily on an impulsive decision," even though the act was obviously premeditated. The doctor reported that Medved showed "no evidence suggestive, of any ongoing significant organic mental disorder, including substance-induced intoxication." However, a Soviet doctor admitted administering Seduczine and Amonizine to the sailor, and an intercepted phone call indicated that a Soviet embassy official ordered that Medved be drugged. The two drugs are tranqulizers that have very strong effects while leaving the patient apparently unimpaired. Urine or blood tests would have shown the presence of those substances, but neither test was administered. The wounds on the sailor's left arm were quite severe, the arm bandaged from the base of the fingers to the armpit. None of the doctors present examined the wounds to determine whether they were self-inflicted or the result of turture.

Although the two Border Patrol officers who first returned Medved to the ship have borne most of the blame for this tragic fiasco, they certainly are not the only ones responsible. Senator Gordon Humphrey (R., N.H.), along with 52 co-sponsors, has introduced a resolution to establish a panel to investigate the handling of Medved and other would-be defectors. Perhaps they will find out who promoted Peress.