Lazar Lubarsky, the 46-year-old engineer who was never bothered by Soviet authorities until he applied for an exit visa to Israel, was sentenced Thursday at the end of a two-day secret trial to four years in a forced labor camp on charges of slandering the Soviet Union and giving away official state secrets. The trial was held in Rostor-On-Don.
The judge was identified as Trost, a Jew, according to Jewish sources in the Soviet Union who reported the verdict. The nine-page indictment accused Lubarsky, who had been chief engineer at a high slanderous letters to Jews who had appeared on Soviet television to denounce Israel, and of writing other slanderous letters. The defense counsel, surnamed Pamynina, argued that the letters could not constitute slander. Her efforts were severely handicapped by refusal of the court to let her see Lubarsky’s file, the sources reported.
The prosecution charged that Lubarsky had given away state secrets at the institute. Miss Pamynina said Lubarsky had simply shown a document–not classified as secret–to a fellow worker, had received a mild reprimand and the incident closed. She added he continued working at the same post until April, 1970, when he was dismissed for applying for the exit visa.
On the second day of the trial, 10 of the 16 defense witnesses were allowed to give evidence Lubarsky’s wife was permitted to enter the courtroom on the second day. A group of 32 Jews in Vilna cabled the Rostov District Court chairman that they were holding a 24-hour hunger strike in solidarity with the engineer.
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.
