A French Senator last night compared the impending trial of nine Jews in Leningrad to the current political trial of Basques in Burgos, Spain by the Franco regime and deplored the fact that Frenchmen were demonstrating for the Basques but not for “the innocent victims of the Leningrad case.” According to Sen. Louis Boutfien, both trials are examples of “dire discrimination by totalitarian regimes.” The Basques are on trial for allegedly arranging the murder of the political police inspector in Burgas in Aug., 1968. The Leningrad Jews are charged with plotting to hijack a Soviet airliner last June. In all, more than 30 Russian Jews have been arrested and held Incommunicado on this and other charges. The Leningrad trial is expected to begin Dec. 15. Sen. Boutfien called on the French public to include the Leningrad case in their activities on behalf of “human freedom and democracy.” He spoke at a mass meeting for Soviet Jews. (A protest meeting against the treatment of Soviet Jews drew about 500 people in London last night. It was organized by the Universities Committee for Soviet Jewry and was addressed by Monsgr. Francis Bartlett, representing John Cardinal Heenan, the Roman Catholic Primate of England. The organizers released documents relating to the arrests of Russian Jews which purported to show that the attempted hijack charges were unsubstantiated.)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
