Yan Krilski, a 20-year-old Moscow Jew, was committed to a mental institution by a Moscow court last week even though a psychiatrist found him mentally sound, it was learned today from Jewish sources in the Soviet Union. The sources said Krilski stood trial on March 15-16 at a court in the Sokolniki district on charges of assault arising from an incident with a drunken man last Oct. According to the sources his commitment was ordered on grounds that he is a “militant Zionist.” Commitment to a mental institution carries no time limit.
The sources said that Krilski and his girlfriend were accosted by a non-Jew surnamed Boykov. Blows were exchanged and Boykov claimed that Krilski stabbed him with a knife. At the trial, however, Boykov admitted that he was drunk at the time and asked that the charges be dropped. The sources said that Krilski was subjected to a psychiatric examination before the trial and was given a clean bill of health but the court considered his militant Zionism grounds for commitment.
The sources said that during the pre-trial investigation, Krilski’s father quit the Communist Party of which he had been a member for 52 years and the entire family applied for exit visas to go to Israel. But the Ovir, the local visa office, cancelled their applications, the sources reported.
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