The three-week trial of 43 Poles and 14 Jews on charges arising from the disorders in Przytyk on March 9 in which three persons were killed and scores injured concluded yesterday with statement by defendants. A verdict will be rendered Friday.
Sholem Lesko, charged with the murder of M. Wiesniak, a Christian, declared to the court:
“I swear by the holiest I am innocent. I shot into the air to frighten off attackers. I did not shoot Wiesniak. My only crime is illegal possession of firearms.”
Other defendants also affirmed their innocence. Several Jewish veterans of battles against Russia protested the treatment they were receiving from the anti-Semitic Nationalists in the country they fought to save.
The Nationalist attorney, Niebudek, winding up the case for the Christian defendants, demanded that the court endorse the anti-Jewish boycott which “already has been legalized in Premier Skladkowski’s program.”
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