4 INTELLECTUALS' TRIAL PUT OFF MOSCOW IS SILENT ON REASON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000400450013-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 1998
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: December 12, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

WASEUNGTDN P06
Sanitized - Approved A414&$V~AMDP75-00149R000400450013-8
OEC 12 1967-
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I
I Intellectuals' Trial P ut Off*
MOSCOW is Silent on Reason
By Anatole Shub
Waehinaton Post Porelzn service
MOSCOW Dec. 11
'.trial?of four rebellious young
intellectuals, which was ex
.petted to. open here today, has
been postponed in an atmos-
phere of considerable mystery.
Moscow City Court officials
said'they had no knowledge of
the case;' and the Soviet press
remains ? silent' on it. Friends
of the, defendants, who gath-
ered at the court this morn
ing, checked further with au-
thorities and defense attor-
neys and got two versions:
The case might be called ?"a,
a moment's notice"; it"had
been postponed "for at least:a
week."
The four defendants, impris-
oned since last January, are
Yuri Galanskov, 27; Ajexander
Ginsburg, 30; Alexei obrovol-
sky, 29, and Vera Lashova, 27.
They;. are charged with "anti-
Soviet propaganda," reported-
ly for having distributed an un-
derground literary magazine,
Phoenix-66, and for having
compiled and sent abroad a rec-
had previous proposed dates;
it' had been accepted.
Others speculated that the
delay might have been due tc
petitions urging an open trla
with full publicity. Two suet
letters, one with 44 and the
other with more than 100 sig
natories, have been sent to the
court. The signatories are sale
to include the granddaughter
of former Soviet Foreign Min
ister Maxim Litvinov and a
number of Moscow University
professors.
Still others thought the delay
due to' the fact that the press,
dent of the court was ill and
his chief deputy was out of
Moscow.-The authorities ma)
therefore;be waiting only until
one or. the other is ready tc
serve.
Early-Trial Expected
In hny' case, a long delay is
considered, unlikely. The pre
trial investigation was com-
pleted two months ago, and
foreign radio stations have
been talking about the case
or more than a week.
Still unclear is the precise
ature of the charges against
each defendant. Galanskov
as the editor of Phoenix-66
ers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuii hand Dobr ovolsky was_ a contri
Daniel.?(For having their criti.
cal writings published abroad
under pen names, Sinyavsky
and Daniel were condemned
to seven and five years impris-
onment respectively.)
All Confused
Even those closest to the- dg-;
fendants appeared confused as:
to why the trial had not'begun',
today. Some thought there,
had been a misunderstanding;
between. defense attorneys and,
court officials,, with the de-,
',fense having assumed wrongly..,
that becagse the M o n?d a y:
;date had not been rejected (as
or all the defendants linked to
Phoenix, the "white book" or
both.
According to one informant
with access to security offi-
cials, the defendants are to be
linked with the NTS (National
Union of Labor) a rightwing
Russian emigre organization
operating mainly in West Ger-
many. The NTS has frequently
been charged with' support
from the U.S. Central Intelli-
gence Agency. Links with for-
eign agencies, however indi-
rect, would appreciably reduce,
sympathy for the defendants'
and would make more diffi-!
cult psychologically the cur
rent efforts of more renowned
liberal Soviet writers to obtain
publication of their works here
or abroad.
Sanitized Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000400450013-8
ainty as to.' whgxher ; the
harges are A Q be 'separated,