The Israeli Students Union has issued membership cards to nine Jewish students serving prison sentences in the Soviet Union. Two of them Israel Zelmanson and Joseph Mendeiowitz, were defendants in the first Leningrad hijack trial in 1970 and were sentenced to eight and ten years’ imprisonment, respectively.
Four other students were jailed for alleged evasion of military duty when they were drafted into the Soviet Army shortly after applying for visas to emigrate to Israel. They are Alexander Slinin, Yaacov Vinarov and Anatoly Malkin, all of whom were given three-year sentences and Alexander Silinizki, sentenced to two years. Yuri Vudka was sentenced to seven years’ hard labor for alleged “Zionist activities” and Arkadi and Leonid Vainman, twin brothers, received four-year sentences each for “hooliganism.”
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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.
