Four Jews will go on trial in Riga on Wednesday, it was learned here tonight. It was also learned that Soviet authorities have unexpectedly held up the exit visas previously issued to two Moscow Jews, Vitaly Svichinsky and Boris Tsukerman, without explanation. The information was obtained from a Jewish family in Moscow which was contacted by telephone today by the Israel Broadcasting Service. The four Jews facing trial were identified as Mikhail Shepshelovich, 27, a bachelor; Ruth Aleksandrovich, 23, a nurse; Boris Maftsier, 23, and Arkady Shpilberg, 23, an engineer. According to the informants, they are charged with anti-Soviet activities but details of the charges are not known. The family also reported the arrest today of Lev Shenkar, a Moscow Jew, who demonstrated outside of the Russian Federation Supreme Court during the appeal hearings of the defendants in last month’s trial of the Leningrad 11. They said he was remanded in custody for 15 days.
Shenkar apparently was arrested shortly after he made a live broadcast to Israel by telephone. The broadcast was aired here at noon today. Shenkar has been running a Hebrew school in Moscow which was turned over to him by Anatol Dekatov, a Jew who was permitted to emigrate and who arrived in Israel two weeks ago. The Moscow family reported that an anti-Israel film was shown on Moscow television tonight in which the need “to destroy Fascist phenomena such as the State of Israel” was emphasized. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported yesterday that according to reliable sources, Svichinsky was to leave the Soviet Union, on Jan. 23 and Tsukerman on Jan. 25, accompanied by their families.
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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.
