Nine Washington area Hebrew school principals and teachers were convicted Wednesday of demonstrating too close to the Soviet Embassy.
The nine were among 42 arrested on November 17 in a demonstration on the eve of the Geneva summit between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Eleven others arrested that day are scheduled to appear March 5 before District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Joseph Hannon, who heard Wednesday’s case.
Wednesday’s convictions bring the total of convictions since demonstrations began within the 500-foot limit of the Embassy in May to 121.
All have received the same sentence: a 15-day suspended jail sentence, a $50 fine, and $10 in court costs. Except for the court costs, Hannon stayed the rest of the sentence pending appeals.
Those arrested outside the Soviet Embassy have claimed they have been subject to selective prosecution, since the charges have been dropped for those demonstrating outside the South African Embassy.
Those sentenced Wednesday were: Susan Allan, Noreen Freedman, Francine Kleinsine, Martin Kreiss and his wife, Michele, Jerome Leibstein, Phyllis Mintz, Marcy Merkin and Morton Lessan.
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.
