Mayor John V. Lindsay said that he was “shocked” to learn of the arrest for political reasons of Ilia Glezer, a Jewish student at Moscow University. “This action of Soviet authorities is especially ominous” because “Ilia Glezer is the first Jewish activist in Moscow accused of political crimes,” the Mayor said in a statement issued here.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported earlier that Glezer was sent to Lefortova prison in Moscow last Saturday-a Jail for political offenders-after a search of his home by the KGB (secret police) yielded books on Jews and Judaic subjects. Lindsay, who is campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, called “on all who value human freedom to cry out against the arrest” of Glezer. The Mayor expressed the hope that Glezer’s arrest “does not signal an end” to the recent Soviet relaxation of its policy on visas to Jews wishing to emigrate.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.