Vladimir Slepak, a Jewish scientist in Moscow who was threatened with a prison term if he refused to accept a menial Job, said today that his case has been postponed for several days, according to the National Conference on Soviet Jewry which reached Slepak by telephone today. Slepak, who was fired from the Russian Academy after applying for a visa to go to Israel, was ordered last week to go to work in a concrete factory or face legal charges of “parasitism.”
He was given until today to accept the job. Slepak didn’t say why his case was postponed but said he was ordered to report for a physical examination tomorrow to determine whether he was capable of working in the factory. He has been unemployed since Sept. 1971. If convicted on charges of “parasitism” he faces a jail term of up to one year.
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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.