A Soviet court for the first time sentenced a rabbi to death by firing squad, on charges of alleged currency speculation, it was reported here this weekend from Moscow. The rabbi, who was given the death penalty along with two other Soviet citizens, was identified by the Soviet newspaper “Soviet Russia” as B. Gavrilov of Piatigorsk, in the northern Caucasus.
Six other defendants, accused of being involved in “a band of currency sellers,” were sentenced to various jail terms. Rabbi Gavrilov was the only one identified by the paper as being Jewish. There was no indication whether he headed a congregation. He was said to have moved from Samarkand, in Central Asia, to Piatigorsk, where, the paper charged, he set up a “real money-changing office” in his home. The newspaper said the sentences were handed down after a four-week trial at Piatigorsk.
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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.
