Soviet Jewish Prisoner of Conscience Sender Levinzon” has been transferred to a strict regime camp in the city of Dmitrograd in the Ulyanovsk region of the USSR, the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) reported. Levinzon and his family first applied to emigrate to Israel in December 1972. He was arrested in March 1975 and was sentenced May 27, 1975 to six years at hard labor on charges of “dealing on the black market in manufactured goods”. Last December, Levinzon urged his wife to emigrate to Israel with their two children after they had been given exit visas by Soviet authorities.
The NCSJ also reported that arrested Jewish activist Iosif Begun could be charged under Article 209 of the Soviet Criminal Code for “systematically engaging in vagrancy and begging” which carries a sentence of up to two years imprisonment or “correctional work” of up to one year. Since his application to emigrate in 1971 and his subsequent dismissal from work as a mathematician, Begun has taught Hebrew but has been unable to receive permission from Soviet authorities for this type of work.
Formerly charged with “parasitism.” this charge was found to conflict with a Soviet article in the Pact of Civil Rights which states that no one can be “forced to work”. Therefore, the NCSJ said, the latter article was revoked and it is expected that Begun will be sentenced under the more severe article.
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.
