MOSCOW TRIAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 117, 20 May 1933, Page 9

MOSCOW TRIAL.

"FRAME-UP" ALLEGED. Dramatic Declarations By British Accused. DEPOSITIONS FORCED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LOXDOX, April 16. Dramatic declarations by two of the six British engineers on trial in Moscow for alleged sabotage and espionage threw the Court into confusion during the course of the hearing. Both Mr. Monkhouse and Sir. Thornton vigorously denied the terms of previous depositions. "I have retracted all that," declared Mr. Monkhouse. "1 signed under pressure," said Mr. 1 hornton.. "I was tired and browbeaten." Before anyone could stop liim Mr. Alan Monkhouse, Metro-Vickers' chief engineer in Russia, jumped up and said he wanted to make a declaration. He began speaking, but the judge stopped liim. Mr. Monkhouse then shouted: "The trial is a frame-up." He declared that after hearing the evidence of Sukhouroutchkin lie wished to testify that the trial was based on the evidence of "terrorised Soviet engineers." Sukliouroutchkin, deputy head engineer of the first Moscow electric station, admitted sabotaging turbines. He said that Mr. Thornton, one of the accused Britons, told him to cause breakdowns. Mr. Monkliouse's protest hinged on Sukliouroutchkin's testimony, and was made just after Ulrich, the presiding judge, entered the Court. "I Know the Methods TJsed." Before he sat down again Mr. Monkhouse deliberately went up to the microphone in front of the prisoners and said in English: "I know myself the methods used, because I was subjected to 18 hours' cross-examination." It was a long while before the spectators recovered from Mr. Monkliouse's amazing interjection. The protest dislocated proceedings. All messages from Moscow were stopped until the exact words were supplied by the official stenographers. Later Mr. Monkhouse protested that he did not call Krasheninnikov a good sabotagucr. Answering a question, Monkhouse said that he did know about defects in MetroVickers machinery, but he did not believe that Krasheninnikov M'as a sabotaguer. Krasheninnikov: But I believe I am a sabotaguer. Nicholas Zorin, an engineer in the Moscow power department, said that lie gave Thornton secret information about turbines. "Acquaintance with Thornton started me along the road to sabotaging," he added.

When Vishinsky, the Soviet Public Prosecutor, referring to a statement by Zorin, turned towards Mr. Thornton and said with a sneer: "I suppose you deny that ?" Mr. Thornton merely shrugged his shoulders and nodded, an action which provoked laughter.

Mr. John Cusliny, aged 33, another of the prisoners, a thick-set, swarthy South African, said he gave Thornton information about the work and made remarks about the political situation,, food priccs and so on. Prosecution Disconcerted. The witness Oleinik, who once lived in England, was recalled. He seemed anxious io give information about sabotage and said breakdowns had been caused through the negligence of Cushny. Mr. Thornton: He is lying. Mr. Monkhouse also said that the evidence was untrue. Oleinik said that he met Mr. Monkhouse when he came back to Russia from England. He was taken on at a salary of 000 roubles, but was instructed to keep a separate account in a London bank in case his house was searched. Oleinik, concluding his evidence, said: "Mr. Thornton was so kind, I could not refuse to sabotage. "When I was on my way to the Far East Mr. Thornton asked me for information about the movements of troops, but these reports were of no interest to Metro-Vickers, so I believed that Thornton and Nordwall were working for some other organisation." This statement, which was extracted by interrogation showing • that MetroVickers were not interested in military information, appeared to disconcert the prosecution. Mr. Monkhouse's Evidence. Under cross-examination Oleinik admitted that the information ho had allegedly given Mr. Thornton consisted of what he had been able to gather by listening to the conversation of other people in trains. Mr. Alan Monkhouse, giving evidence, said: "I used many methods to get information because it was my business. Thornton gave me information, too, for the same reason." When Visliinski started reading Mr. Monkhouse's deposition, Mr. Monkhouse cut him short with: "I have retracted all that —1 was tired after 18 hours' questioning, so I made these depositions." Mr. Monkhouse appeared to have shaken the evidence pf sabotage brought against him. The words sabotage, o.rpionage and bribery were not once mentioned during the cross-examination, and the questions put to Mr. Monkhouse were purely tech-i nicaL .. a. '

The Only Woman in the Case. A dramatic incident occurred while Mile. Ivutuzova —the only woman in the case —was giving evidence. Mr. Thornton jumped up and said: "I wish to make a statement. I signed under pressure and after long questioning, and it was suggested that if I confessed everything would be all right, and that if I did not 1 should be of no use either to the U.S.S.R. or to England. Then I was so tired and browbeaten that I signedi the deposition, which was dictated in Russian. I was not tortured." The Public Prosecutor: Do you claim that you did your work well?— Most certainly I did. ' That is what I came to Russia for.

Mile. Kutuzova (Metropolitan-Vickcrs' secretary in Ilussia), her hair carefully marcelled, her cheeks powdered and rouged, and her hands carefully manicured, apparently was not in .the least impressed by her surroundings. She answered all questions put to her ill monosyllables, admitting the full eon. tents of the indictment. Mr. Thornton vigorously denied allegations she made. He then personally cross-examined Mile. Kutuzova, who, hi reply, said: '"I heard no details —only general statements." Called "A Liar." At one point the prosecutor lost his patience and called Thornton a liar. Asked if she knew about payments made by Thornton for illegal information, Mile. Kutuzova said: "Yes, I knew —lie told me. He said he was enlisting the services of Russian engineers and technicians for the collection of information." Prosecutor: In what manner was the payments made ?—They did not go through the proper book-keeping channels. Where was it recorded?—Thornton recorded the payments in a personal notebook. The notebook, she added, was now in England

STILL IN GAOL. NO REPRIEVES ISSUED. (Received 2 p.m.) MOSCOW, May 19. Messrs. Thornton and Macdonald, who were sentenced to three and two years' imprisonment respectively, are likely to remain in gaol for an additional three months as there were no May Day reprieves issued—through the medium of which it was hoped to secure the prisoners' release.