Lev Elbert, one of Kiev’s leading Jewish activists, was sentenced yesterday to one year in a Labor camp for “evasion of an army reserve call up notice, “according to the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. Elbert is a 35-year-old engineer and translator. He, his wife and son, have sought exit to Israel for nine years.
Elbert had stated two grounds for not submitting to the callup: he had been previously refused emigration on the grounds he had acquired “military secrets ” while digging earth for swimming pools during his regular army service a decade ago, and as a former private, not an officer, he was exempt from reserve duty.
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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.
