SHOT IN BACK

Evening Star, Issue 20310, 19 October 1929, Page 15

SHOT IN BACK

EXECUTION OF TRAITOR JUST PUNISHMENT METED OUT. Prats A**o«iatiou—By Talc-graph—Copyright. HOME, October 17. The death sentence passed on Gortan was carried out at Pola at 6 o’clock this morning by shooting in the back. The execution squad was drawn from the 60th Legion of the Blackshirt Militia. A message from Pol a says that the news of the execution produced an excellent impression as a just punishment for a ferocious act of terrorism. The state of mind _of the population is clearly revealed in tho spontaneous and unanimous request that the _ 60th Legion, which consists largely of Fascists, should bo included in the firing squad.—Australian Press Association.

[A previous message read as follows: —Anti-Italian feeling is running high in Jugo-Slavia on account of the death sentence being passed at Pola upon Valdimir Gortan, who is alleged to have ambushed and fired on voters during an election in Piscine district (Istm), killing one and wounding several. Like his companions, who were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Gortan, though a Jugo-Slavian, is an Italian subject under the peace treaties The court ordered him to be shot through the back as a traitor, the public prosecutor stating that no distinction could be drawn between native Italians and those who joined the Italian family since the Great War.]