The District of Columbia has dropped its charges against Avra ham Shifrin, a former Soviet citizen who was arrested Feb. 9 while making a speech in front of the Soviet Embassy on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Shifrin was charged under an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to deliver a speech or sermon in a public place without a permit from the District chief of police.
Attorney Carl McIntyre, chief of the District’s law enforcement division, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he dropped the case because “we have our doubts whether the facts in this particular case were subject to prosecution under the ordinance.” Shifrin, now an Israeli citizen, is in Washington assisting a Senate subcommittee investigating the Soviet prison system. Shifrin himself was in a labor camp for 14 years before emigrating to Israel.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
