The Trial
Schwartzbard was arrested and was put on trial by the Public Court Committee on October 18, 1927. His defense was led by Henri Torres, a renowned French jurist who had previously defended anarchists such as Buenaventura Durruti and Ernesto Bonomini and who also represented the Soviet consulate in France.
The core of Schwartzbard's defense was to attempt to show that he was avenging the deaths of victims of pogroms, whereas the prosecution (both criminal and civil) tried to show that:
- (i) Petlura was not responsible for the pogroms and
- (ii) Schwartzbard was a Soviet agent.
Both sides brought on many witnesses, including several historians. A notable witness for the defense was Haia Greenberg (aged 29), a local nurse who survived the Proskurov pogroms and testified about the carnage. She never said that Petliura personally participated in the event, but rather some other soldiers who did said that they were directed by Petlura. Several former Ukrainian officers testified for the prosecution.
After a trial lasting eight days the jury acquitted Schwarztbard.
According to Ukrainian historian Michael Palij, a GPU agent named Mikhail Volodin came to Paris in August 1925 and met Schwartzbard, who began stalking Petlura. He had previously planned to assassinate Petlura at a gathering of Ukrainian émigrés marking Petlura's birthday but the attempt was foiled by anarchist Nestor Makhno who was also at the function.
Read more about this topic: Sholom Schwartzbard
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