SPIES SENTENCED

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 91, 11 January 1929, Page 9

SPIES SENTENCED

INQUIRIES CONCERNING GERMAN ARMS DANISH OFFICER. AND . A FRAULIEN -' A ’ (“Times” Cables.) ' .■ London, January 9. The Berlin correspondent of “The Times” reports that after a secret trial the Supreme Court sentenced a Danish officer, Captain Lembourn, to ’ five years’ imprisonment, for espionage, and his accomplice, a German woman clerk, Fraulien Stegermafin, to two years. It is understood that Lembourn contended that he undertook certain inquiries on behalf of a friend who heard that he intended taking a holiday in Germany, but had not expected that the inquiries would' lead him to commit espionage. He pleaded that he only wanted to ascertain if the Nationalists’ organisations were planning an attack on the Danish frontier, The judge, summing up, pointed out tlpit Lembourn had sought information about the training of air pilots and the manufacture of armaments. It was also clear that he was not acting on behalf of Denmark, but a foreign Power working through Copenhagen. The judge found that there-were extenuating . circumstances. for . Stegermann, whom love had led astray, but he said that she should have hearkened to her friends’ warning that Lembourn was employing her for espionage. Though no Power was mentioned,' all Germany assumes . that France was meant. It is pointed out that Lembourn. who posed as an Englishman named Brown, was formerly seconded for the French army, and had arranged with Stegermann to get a post in the Ministry of Defence. FEELING IN DENMARK GERMANY’S TREATY OBLIGATIONS (Australian Press Association.) (Rec. January 10, 8.55 p.m.) London, January 10. A Copenhagen message states that there is a sensation throughout Denmark at the sentence of five years’ penal servitude at the Leipzig Supreme Court on the Danish officer, Captain Lembourn, charged with spying in Germany in the interests of France. The trial was secret, but it is stated that Lembourn asserted that he acted only in the interests of Denmark, being anxious to discover what preparations German. Eascist organisations had made for an attack, on the Danish southern frontier. The court, on the contrary, declared that Lembourn acted on behalf of a secret service built up by the French military attache at Copenhagen. His researches were chiefly directed against the Reichswehr and the militarised section of police. The Danish press says that Germany, under the Versailles Treaty, should not have military secrets, therefore it was not a question- of espionage. .