Dr. Haim Renert, the Jewish gynecologist reported this week to have been arrested in Tzernowitz, the Ukraine, two weeks ago, has been sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly attempting to bribe his way to an emigration visa, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned today from Jewish sources here. It was not immediately known if Dr. Renert, 48, admitted the charges. He was known to have applied unsuccessfully for an exit visa. Meanwhile, a Jewish engineer of Kishinev, Moldavia, identified as Aleksandr Zhenin was arrested within the past few days, it was learned. He had been arrested a month ago, when his home was searched and Hebrew texts and a Hebrew recording were confiscated. It has also been learned that two noted Soviet Jewish film directors, Mikhail Kalik and Yesin Sevela, have been expelled from the Soviet Union’s cinema workers’ association. Such action is barred by the association’s rules unless the persons involved are consulted on charges against them, which was not done in the case of Kalik and Sevela, who have applied for emigration permission. The two originally joined the association at its invitation.
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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.