Sen. Edward M. Kennedy pledged his support to act for the release of five Jews facing trial in Sverdlovsk after Rabbi Meir Kahane and a dozen other members of his Jewish Defense League staged an almost four-hour sit-in Thursday afternoon in the Senator’s offices. Edward T. Martin, the Massachusetts Democrat’s administrative aide, said Kennedy was preparing to issue an appeal for clemency as soon as an aide determines to whom it should be sent, Rafael Perl, a lawyer who often speaks here for the JDL and other activists for Soviet Jewry, said the five Jews facing trial for “anti-Soviet activity” involving the possession of Hebrew books are Valeriy Kukui, Yuli Kosharovsky, Boris Rabinowitz, Vladimir Aks and Vladimir Markman.
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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.