Grigory Geishis, 20, of Leningrad, was arrested last week on charges of draft evasion, it was reported here by the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) and by the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) in Waltham, Mass. Two other young Jews, Boris Kalendarov and Igor Korchnoi are currently serving two-year sentences on similar charges, the two organizations reported. Geishis will be held in prison “as a measure of restraint until his trial, scheduled to take place in two months.
Geishis, who was expelled from the Communications Institute in Leningrad on the day he applied for an exit visa to Israel in October, 1978 was refused permission to emigrate because of his mother’s alleged access to classified information. He told the draft board that he cannot serve in the Soviet army because he wants to leave the country. He also said that conscription would make him privy to “state secrets” and would prevent him from emigrating to Israel.
Geishis is charged under article 80 of the Russian Republic Criminal Code; if convicted, he faces “the deprivation of freedom of up to three years.” Although his parents obtained a defense attorney, Geishis has not been permitted to see her. Grigory’s father has appealed to world Jewry to publicly protest his son’s arrest and possible imprisonment, the NCSJ and UCSJ reported.
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