Valery Pilnikov, a Soviet Jewish activist from Kiev, has been sentenced to five years of hard labor, according to the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ). He was tried for allegedly assaulting his neighbor. Pilnikov was arrested May 16 upon his return from Moscow where he and a group of Soviet Jews from his home city delivered a complaint to the Communist Party Central Committee regarding new emigration restrictions. The trial was held without legal representation for Pilnikov and despite written evidence clearing him of all charges. In reaction to the guilty verdict, Pilnikov’s wife, Olga, immediate planned to fly to Moscow, the NCSJ reported.
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