Dr. William Perl, leader of the Washington area Jewish Defense League, was free on $20,000 bond today after his arrest by FBI agents yesterday on charges of conspiracy to shoot into the apartments of two Soviet Embassy officials. No date has been set for a hearing or arraignment. The 70-year-old psychologist had been indicted earlier yesterday by a federal grand jury in Baltimore on four counts of conspiracy to harass foreign officials and with violation of federal firearms laws.
Jeffrey S. White, an assistant U.S. Attorney here, said the charges grew out of a previously unreported shooting incident around midnight last May 23 at the Prince Georges County apartment residences of Rimgaudas Malishauskas and Ivan Zavrazhnov, both second secretaries at the Soviet Embassy. No injuries were reported.
White said Perl was charged yesterday with purchase of a stolen 22-caliber rifle and with trying to hire a former driver for the Israel Embassy to shoot out the windows in the apartments of the two Soviet Embassy officials. The driver, whose name was withheld, was not charged.
The shooting was the first such incident reported in the Washington area. Soviet diplomats in New York City have complained that shots have been fired into their residences on several occasions. Perl was charged under the Act for the Protection of Foreign Officials. Conviction could mean a sentence of up to five years or a $20,000 fine.
Perl has led many anti-Soviet protests in Washington, including some in front of the Soviet Embassy, mainly in efforts on behalf of Soviet Jews. He told newsmen last week that the JDL planned to attend a July 3 rally by the American Nazi Party in Lafayette Park, warning there would “absolutely” be “physical violence resulting in a bloodbath.”
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.
