Ruth in Solitary Confinement; Mother Appeals to Kennedy; Kukui Trial Due June 17

Ruth Aleksandrovich has been put in solitary confinement in Riga for fashioning a Star of David from pajama threads and attaching it to her prison uniform, Jewish sources here said today. Her father, Rubin Aleksandrovich, who was to meet with her last Friday, was not permitted to do so because of her new status, the sources said. Today marked the beginning of Miss Aleksandrovich’s ninth month in prison; she has four more months to serve to complete her recently imposed 1-year sentence for alleged anti-Soviet activities. An urgent appeal to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to intercede with the Soviet Union on behalf of Miss Aleksandrovich was made by her mother, Mrs. Rivka Aleksandrovich, at a meeting last Friday in Washington, D.C. with Kennedy. Mrs. Aleksandrovich, currently in the U.S. on a speaking tour in Ruth’s behalf, went to Senator Kennedy “in desperation,” she told the American Jewish Congress today. The Senator gave her a sympathetic hearing and promised “to do everything he could” to expedite the appeal. Mrs. Aleksandrovich reported. Meanwhile, sources reported that Valeri Kukui, a Sverdlovsk Jew charged with anti-Soviet slander for distributing petitions criticizing the trials of Soviet Jews, may go on trial himself June 17. The 33-year-old Kukui, who has a 31-year-old wife, Ella, and a 6-year-old daughter, applied for an emigration visa a year ago. Sources said an anti-Kukui article recently appeared in the controlled Sverdlovsk press.