Soviet Jewish Prisoner of Conscience Aleksandr Kholmiansky is in the 33rd day of a hunger strike, the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry reported today. While visiting with prison officials in Tallinn, Kholmiansky’s mother learned that her son has been on a hunger strike since September 13 and is being forcefed within the prison hospital. According to his mother, Kholmiansky undertook the hunger strike to protest his groundless imprisonment.
Kholmiansky, a Moscow refusenik who applied to emigrate in 1978, was arrested on July 25 and charged with “hooliganism.” He has been held since then while Soviet authorities have attempted to build a case against him, the Conference said. According to Jewish activists in the Soviet Union, Kholmiansky is being accused of organizing a “national Hebrew study group,” although no such group exists. The prosecutor now also claims to have “found” a gun and ammunition in Kholmiansky’s apartment. Kholmiansky is expected to go on trial in Tallinn on October 25.
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.
