ARRESTS IN HUNGARY

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28155, 19 December 1956, Page 15

ARRESTS IN HUNGARY

400 To Stand Trial (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) BUDAPEST, Dec. 18. The Russian-imposed government of Mr Janos Kadar today announced the arrest of nearly 400 persons throughout Hungary in a new attempt to stamp out “counter revolutionaries,” according to the British United Press. Budapest Radio reported the arrests as taking place in the last 24 hours. “The criminals” the radio referred to are believed to be political prisoners of the pre-revolutionary “Stalinist” regime. Anti-Communists, freed from prisons in the early stages of the revolution, when freedom fighters opened the gates of secret police prisons, are all over the country. Most of those freed joined the freedom force, and withdrew to the mountains after the Russian onslaught on Budapest. Budapest Radio said most of the arrested men had been charged with illegal possession of arms, indicating that a new wave of arrests will be followed by mass trials before military tribunals set up after martial law was declared by the Government on December 11. According to the radio, five persons so far have been court-martialled for possessing arms and have been sentenced to death, but only one has been executed. Reports of the arrests clearly indicated that the Government had succeeded in establishing a new secret police force, according to the news agency. The “Daily Telegraph” today said that although the Hungarian regime had announced only the passing of fiv£> sentences by its courts, reports reaching Vienna claimed that more than 260 patriots had been tried and executed so far. Applications for Passports Nearly 500 Hungarians queued outside the Budapest passport office yesterday when it began accepting applications for migration passports for the first time in more than a fortnight. Most people appeared to want to migrate to Western countries which have already received 130,000 Hungarian refugees since the uprising on October 23.

Priority was given to men of 55 and over and to those of 45 and over who are exempt from military service. All women may apply, an official said. He added that 2000 applications for passports were already under consideration before the passport office reopened today.