A Soviet Supreme Court has reduced the sentence of Isaac Skolnik from ten to seven years, Jewish sources in the Soviet Union reported today. The sources said that Shkolnik’s appeal, which had been scheduled for a hearing June 18 and then postponed indefinitely, was heard in closed session yesterday.
The 37-year-old Jewish mechanic from Vinnitsa. Ukraine, was sentenced on April 11 after a closed trial found him guilty of spying for Israel and anti-Soviet propaganda. No proof was presented at the trial that he was ever in possession of secret information he allegedly passed to Israel. (A spokesman for the National Conference for Soviet Jewry said in New York yesterday that the reduction of Shkolnik’s sentence was “a positive move” partially in response to Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid Brezhnev’s recent summit meeting with President Nixon.)
Jewish sources in the Soviet Union reported today that Yuri Sayasov, a prominent scientist, has received an exit visa and will leave for Israel shortly. The sources said that three other Jewish activists were denied visas. The sources also reported that telephone service has been restored to the homes of ten Moscow Jewish activists after having been cut off for several days. The phones of four others remain disconnected, the sources said.
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.
