The trial of two Palestine Jews before a military tribunal on charges of gun smuggling, which has been proceeding for the past seven weeks will be concluded on Friday, it was indicated in court yesterday when the last defense witness was heard. The prosecution has presented 36 witnesses and the defense 24.
The attorney for Abraham Rachlin, one of the two defendants, will give his summation this afternoon, and the attorney for Leib Sirkin, the other defendant, will be heard on Thursday. Friday will be devoted to the summation by Major Baxter, the prosecutor, after which the court will adjourn to consider its decision.
The defense witness yesterday was a police handwriting expert, Arieh Ragolsky, who testified that writing in the army “pay book” belonging to one of the soldiers from whom Rachlin and Sirkin are alleged to have purchased arms was “more dissimilar than similar” to Sirkin’s writing. Cross-examined by the prosecution, which intimated that Ragolsky’s testimony was motivated by the fear that he would be assassinated by “Jewish terrorist groups” if he testified otherwise, the handwriting expert maintained that his statements were accurate and were given without intimidation from any source. In attempting to shake Ragolsky’s testimony, Major Baxter read to the court several anonymous leaflets issued last year which threatened death to Jewish policemen “for helping a foreign power fight Jewish forces.”
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