Alexander Shteynberg's Gallery

When in March 1911 the body of a young Christian boy is found in Kiev, the Czarist authorities seize the opportunity to revive the age-old accusation of ritual murder. A Jewish inhabitant of Kiev, Mendel Beilis, the superintendent of a brick kiln, is arrested and charged, although by that time the authorities already know the true perpetrators. 

For more than two years, Beilis remains in prison while the authorities try to build a case against him by falsifying papers and pressurizing "witnesses." But the case backfires. In October 1913, the jury unanimously declares Beilis not guilty.