Polish military authorities here have sentenced a Polish Jew to six years imprisonment on charges of “desertion” although he was never a member of the Polish armed forces, it was disclosed today when his attorney filed a ##it of habeus corpus in Jerusalem district court.
The imprisoned man, Chairm Novik, was among the Polish refugees in southern Siberia. In 1941, he volunteered for the Polish Army then being formed in the U.S.S.R. but was rejected and given a certificate stating that he was exempt from military service. In some undisclosed manner Novik succeeded in leaving Russia with the Polish Army that was evacuated to the Middle East, and eventually reached Palestine.
Shortly after his arrival here, he was arrested and sentenced by the Chief legistrate in Haifa to a short term in prison on charges of entering the country illegally. At the conclusion of his sentence, the Polish authorities formally demaned his extradition, and he was turned over to them. A Polish court-martial sentenced Novik to six year’s penal servitude for “desertion,” refusing to recognize the certificate of exemption granted him in Russia.
A court order issued today calls on the commander of the Polish forces here to appear on July 4, to show cause why Novik should not be released.
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