Gaol For Rumanians In Legation Raid

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28002, 23 June 1956, Page 9

Gaol For Rumanians In Legation Raid

(Rec. 8 p.m.) BERNE, June 21

Four Rumanian exiles were sentenced to prison terms ranging from four years to 16 months today for ’seizing the Rumanian Legation in Berne in February, 1955, and holding it for 38 hours against besieging police.

A five-judge Swiss Federal tribunal sentenced Oliviu Beldeanu to four years’ imprisonment for leading the group. After serving their prison terms, all the men will be expelled from Switzerland—Beldeanu for eight years, the others for five years. Beldeanu was found guilty of charges of political espionage and of co-responsibility for the mortal wounding of the Legation chaffeur, Aurel Setu. Stan Codrescue, a 27-year-old mechanic, was sentenced to three years and six months’ imprisonment on counts including political espionage and the mortal wounding of Setu, with a burst of sub-machine-gun fire, without intending to kill him. John Chirilla. a 25-year-old labourer, was sentenced to imprisonment for two years and a half on charges including political espionage and complicity in the mortal wounding of Setu. Dumitru Ochio, aged 26, of no fixed occupation, was sentenced to 16

months’ imprisonment on counts including political espionage.

The charges upheld against all four men included the use or threatened use of violence.

Codrescue was found not guilty of murdering Setu in that he fired without intention to kill him. Beldeanu was found not guilty of being coauthor in the murder. Chirilla was found not guilty of complicity in the murder.

The time spent in detention since February 16. 1955. will be deducted from the prison sentences.

Beldeanu. Codrescue, and Chirilla were ordered to pay total damages of 5000 Swiss francs (about £420) to Mrs Natalia Setu for the death of her husband. In addition, all four men were ordered to pay 1009 francs (about £80) damages for their maltreatment of Mrs Setu, who was bound and threatened by the attackers.

Beldeanu and Ochio entered the Legation Chancellery early in the morning of February 15, 1955. They cut telephone wires and bound and gagged Setu’s wife. Setu appeared outside and was shot down by Codrescue, who testified that he fired a machine-gun burst at the chaffcur's legs to • stop him from reaching his car.

The men then entered the Legation, forcing the Charge d'Affaires (Mr

Emeric Stoffel) and others to flee. They held out for 38 hours against the Swiss police who surrounded the building. The chauffeur lay wounded in the snow for nearly five hours before being found by police and taken to hospital. where he died. Beldeanu and Codrescue were found guilty of abandoning a wounded man in that they brought no aid to Setu. Chirilla was acquitted on this count. The president of the tribunal (Judge Paul Schwartz) read a long “statement of motivation” prefacing the verdict. It said the men’s object was to obtain detailed information on the presumed surveillance of Rumanian emigres.

It added that the case was grave, but “account may be taken of the motives, of the antecedents, and of the personal situation of the accused.” These included their political convictions. their previous clear record, and the fart that they had lived abroad “in difficult conditions.”