Ilya Glezer, a Soviet Jewish Prisoner of Conscience, has been released from his sentence in exile and told to reapply to emigrate, it was reported today by the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. Presently residing in Moscow, Glezer, a biologist from Kharkov, was sentenced to three years in prison and three years in exile in August 1972 on grounds of disseminating “anti-Soviet propaganda.”
Exactly one month after he and his mother applied for exit visas in January 1972, Glezer was arrested and charged with “anti-Soviet propaganda, slander and other crimes.” In particular, he was jailed for having written a letter to President Nikolai Podgorny substantiating the existence of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union.
His two-day trial was held behind closed doors with his mother and relatives barred from the courtroom. Throughout his ordeal, and even in appeals from prison, Glezer maintained that his only “crime” was his fervent desire to live in Israel.
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.
