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Jerusalem,
Burg draws fire for urging world lawmakers to help free Russian Jewish media baron
Ha’aretz
Service — In a step said to have sparked the ire of
Israeli officials, Knesset Speaker
Avraham Burg has sent a strongly-worded letter to parliamentarians abroad, urging them to work to free jailed
Russian Jewish media baron Vladimir
Gusinsky, Army Radio reported
Monday.
Gusinsky, a prominent critic of Russian
President Vladimir Putin, is in custody in Spain awaiting extradition to
Russia. Gusinsky maintains that Russian authorities have manipulated the judicial system to harass him into silence.
“When a political campaign is waged against a Jew like Gusinsky, I begin to worry,” Burg wrote. “I worry about all the Jews in Russia, and hope that this is not the beginning of the end of democracy there.”
Israeli officials criticized Burg for having done potential harm to
Russian-Israeli diplomatic relations, the radio said.
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