A 52-year-old Orthodox Jew was sentenced to death by a Soviet court at Tiflis, the capital of Soviet Georgia, on charges of “currency speculation,” according to reports received here today from Moscow.
The defendant was Mordekh A. Kakiashvili, who was not identified as Jewish but Soviet press accounts of the trial made it clearly evident he was a Jew. The Soviet press reports said that during pre-trial investigation he declined to sign a statement of interrogation on a Saturday. The Zarya Vostoka, a Georgian newspaper, also quoted him as saying: “Today I cannot. I’ll do it tomorrow. You understand.”
The news followed reports of death sentences recently imposed on Orthodox Jews in Leningrad on similar charges. Observers here suggested that the trials and sentences might represent a new Soviet approach toward getting rid of Jewish religious lay leaders under the guise of charges unrelated to the real Soviet objective.
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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.
