SENTENCES ON GERMANS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 75, 8 January 1949, Page 4

SENTENCES ON GERMANS

COMMISSION URGES COMMUTATION WASHINGTON, Jan. 6. A United States Army investigating commission to-day urged the commutation of death sentences imposed on 12 Germans charged with machinegunning American prisoners at Malmedy, in Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, in 1944. The commission alleged that _ the Army prosecutors had used “highly questionable” tactics in obtaining statements from the defendants. These tactics included mock trials at which hooded defendants were taken into a room containing a crucifix and candles burning on a table covered with a black cloth. Persons dressed in Army uniforms “pretended” to be the judges, prosecutors and defenders of the accused. The commission said that the death sentences'should be changed to life imprisonment. The commission held that, while the Malmedy massacre of about 80 American prisoners was “most reprehensible” and deserved stern retribution, the deed was done in the heat of one of the most furious battles of the war. The commission added that it was doubtful if an American court-mar-tial would order anything more than life imprisonment for similar offences bv American soldiers. "An Army war crimes official .said that General Lucius Clay, the American Military Governor in Germany, had already commuted the death sentences of 31 of the 43 Germans originally sentenced to be hanged for the Malmedy massacre. The Secretary of the Army (Mr Kenneth Royall) appointed the commission last autumn to investigate the conduct of the Dachau war crimes trials which included the Malmedy case. Mr 'Willis Everett, of Atlanta, Georgia, who was counsel for 73 of tlie Malmedy accused, had earlier petitioned the United States Supreme Court-, and had made grave charges against the prosecution officers.