Soviet activist Boris Levitas, who was ordered to appear Nov. 22 before a medical committee of his draft board in Kiev, failed to appear and it is feared he will be arrested and charged with “draft evasion.” according to reports reaching the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. His parents, brother and sister emigrated to Israel in 1973.
Levitas applied for an exit visa in January. Considered an excellent student at the Building Institute in Kiev, he was suddenly given poor marks and was expelled from the institute upon his application to emigrate. Dina Levitas said of her son, “When he goes into the army, we know that his chances of rejoining us are slim. After army service he will be kept for as long as five years because the authorities will claim he knows ‘military secrets,’ “according to the NCSJ.
Levitas’ family is convinced that he is being conscripted to frighten off other Jews in Kiev from applying, and that the authorities are taking revenge upon him for wanting to leave the Soviet Union, the NCSJ reported.
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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.
