Ilya Grigory (Hillel) Butman, who received the heaviest sentence at the second Leningrad trial–10 years at hard labor for “treason” and “anti-Soviet activities”–maintained a dignified bearing in court as he denied the charges against him and asserted that he wanted only to go to Israel, reliable Jewish sources reported here to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Also on the last day of the trial Thursday, Luba Kaminsky, 17-year-old daughter of defendant Lassal Kaminsky, who received a five-year sentence, stood up in court and cried: “I am proud of you, daddy!,” the sources said. Meanwhile, the JTA learned, a Mr. and Mrs. Druk, sister and brother-in-law of Yosif M. Mendelevich, who was sentenced to 15 years at the first Leningrad trial last December, have been blocked in their attempt to gain an emigration visa. The Druks went to the ovir (visa office) in Riga and asked the head of the office, identified by sources as Kaya, for permits. Jews waiting outside for their turn said they heard Kaya shout at Druk: “You are a bastard. I would beat you up and even kill you.” Then, sources said, Kaya and his assistant, a Capt. Bolshakova, warned the couple that if they brought charges against the ovir chief they would be charged with perjury.
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.
