OGPU METHODS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 86, 12 April 1933, Page 7

OGPU METHODS.

BRITISH ACCUSED.

CRUEL INQUISITIONS. Sensational Disclosures of "Frame-Up" Attempts. ANOTHER WHITE PAPER. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 10 a.m.) LONDON", April 11. Another White Paper, of 20 pages, has been issued, embodying dispatches from the British Ambassador to Russia, Sir Esmond Ovey, and Mr. W. Strang, Counsellor in the Moscow Embassy, to the Foreign Minister, Sir John Simon, between March 19 and April 7, concerning the arrests of the engineers of the Metropolitan Vickcrs Company. The gravest public impression has been caused by the document, which discloses, inter alia, that the strong undercurrent of menaces during some of the examinations of the Viekers engineers was alternated with promises of lucrative employment in return for satisfactory answers. The document is an astonishing revelation of the Ogpu's methods of justice. It states that the various accused men were examined separately daily, sometimes for 18 to 20 hours. They were told of the alleged confession by their friends and were threatened with dire consequences if they did not similarly confess.

The White Paper also is important as indicating the charges which the Ogpu is likely to rely upon at the coming trial. Mr. Allan Monkhouse, the New Zealander accused, is shown to have signed a statement in Mr. W. H. Thornton's handwriting admitting a long list of small presents and monetary payments made over a decade. These items were trifling, being for clothes, etc. They were given to Russian engineers and technicians. The gifts referred to are now being used to bolster up charges of ! inciting, sabotage and espionage. Mr. Monkhouse's impression is that the alleged sabotage occurrences at Zlatovsk will be a feature of the trial. A Russian's Confession. The accusation against Mr. Charles Nordwall is that he was spending money for wrecking purposes. He was confronted by Labanoff, a Russian engineer, who obviously had been brought from prison and in Mr. Nordwall's presence confessed that he had received sums of 2000 and 3000 roubles for wrecking activities.

; The Russian admitted that he had actually been engaged in wrecking. Mr. Nordwall replied that Labanoff's statement was fantastic.

Labanoff added that he was instructed not to wreck the Vickers plant but to devote his attention to other companies' plants in the Ivanova district. Mr. Nordwall denied this.

As an example of the methods of the Ogpu Sir Esmond Ovey. ; quotes a story of a Russian woman who was instructed to persuade Mr. Monkho-use to undertake secret work. The woman refused to carry out the instruction.

The strangest revelations in the White Paper refer to Mr. Thornton, who was born in Russia. He is decribed as of a generous nature "and may possibly have been indiscreet in helping Russians." Worn Out By Interrogation. Mr. Strang describes Mr. Thornton as worn out. He had been interrogated daily since his arrest, on one occasion for 20 hours without a break. He was confronted by Mr. W. H. Mac Donald, a fellow prisoner, who accused Mr. Thornton of engaging in military and economic spying. Mr. Thornton says that when his amazement began to embarrass Mr. MacDonald the examiners made him (Mr. Thornton) sit with his back to Mr. MacDonald, "who looked awful." Gustav, a friend of Mr. Mac Donald, made similar statements when he confronted Mr. Thornton. He said the latter had been paid 10,000 roubles foxespionage purposes. . Mr. Strang even suggested to Sir John Simon that Mr. Thornton had broken down and made a false confession under the well-known forms of Ogpu pressure, particularly a threat of exposure in connection with his alleged relations with Madame Kutosova, secretary to the company. Mr. Strang's last cablegram, after he had seen Mr. Thornton, however, reveals a different state of affairs. For two days Mr. Thornton's examiners tried to make him admit that he had received money from the British Consulate and was a member of the Intelligence Service. Woman's Tragic Plight. Then Mr. Thornton was told that Madame Kutosova had testified to this effect. The woman confronted him, evidently in a pitiable state of terror, and reeled off accusations against Mr. Thornton in a manner suggesting that she was acting under compulsion, having been broken by the usual threats regarding her relatives.

"Amazing" is the most used adjective in connection with the White Paper which the "Daily Express" says shows the tangle of lies and third degree methods in which the Soviet authorities sought to enmesh the arrested British engineers.

Even the small section of the British Press which had been critical of the way in which the Government had handled the affair' is obviously impressed by the latest disclosures. The White Paper is the chief news under the biggest headlines in all the newspapers, but there is little editorial comment owing to the lateness of the hour of its issue.

The "News-Chronicle" says: "If there is any substance in the charges it is now almost impossible to discover through the cloud of irrclevent and incredible suspicions. The prisoners appear to have been so broken by inquisition that it is no longer possible to say what is the real worth of their testimony."

A Moscow message states that there is nothing in to-day's newspapers relating to the trial of the Vickers employees tomorrow. This is interpreted as an official desire to minimise the possibility of crowds of workers flocking to the courtroom in the Nobles Hall, which has accommodation for 500.