The Court of Appeals today confirmed sentences by a lower court against three Jews convicted of roles in the Przytyk pogrom last March, increased the terms meted out to eight others and sentenced three Nationalists who had been previously acquitted of murder charges to eighteen months each.
Sentences of eight, six and five years respectively, against Sholem Lesko, Eliezer Kirshenszweig and Isaac Friedman, charged with the slaying of a Gentile during the pogrom, were upheld.
One of the Nationalists who had previously been sentenced to six months, was convicted of murder and sentenced to eighteen months. He had originally been sentenced for illegal assembly. Two others who had been acquitted were convicted and sentenced to terms of ten months each. Sentences of six other Polish defendants were increased from two months to a year.
Sentences of Jewish defendants were increased as follows:
Eliezer Feldberg, from ten to 18 months; Isaac Banda, from eight months to two years; Leib Lenga, from eight months to one year; Leibe Zeide, Saul Krengel, Raphael Honig and Moss Ferszt, from six to ten months each.
The court recognized a civil suit brought by the children of the slain Jewish couple, the Minkowskis, against the Poles who were convicted of their murder.
Two Jews and a Christian were killed in the pogrom, one of the most savage in recent Polish history, and more than a score of Jews were wounded. The ensuing trial lasted nearly a month.
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