Lev Elbert, one of Kiev’s leading Jewish activists, was sentenced yesterday to one year in a Labor camp for “evasion of an army reserve call up notice, “according to the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. Elbert is a 35-year-old engineer and translator. He, his wife and son, have sought exit to Israel for nine years.
Elbert had stated two grounds for not submitting to the callup: he had been previously refused emigration on the grounds he had acquired “military secrets ” while digging earth for swimming pools during his regular army service a decade ago, and as a former private, not an officer, he was exempt from reserve duty.
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.
