BRITAIN DENIES CHARGES MADE BY BULGARIANS

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 March 1949, Page 5

BRITAIN DENIES CHARGES MADE BY BULGARIANS

LONDON, March 12. The British Government has sent a Note to Bulgaria in which it describes as “completely false” statements relating to the British Legation in Sofia made in the alleged confessions of defendants at the recent trial of 15 Protestant pastors. Some of the pastors said that they spied at'the instance of members of the British Legation. The charges made against the former British Vice-Consul in Sofia (Mr Stanley Burt-Andrews) are specifically stated to be untrue. The British Note says that the whole of the testimony has been rendered suspect by “clear examples of misrepresentation” in the pastors’ “confessions.” It adds: “The trial has convinced the British Government that religious freedom in Eastern Europe is under deliberate general attack and that Bulgaria has no intention of giving effect to its solemn obligations under the terms of the peace treaty, which guaranteed the fundamental freedoms of its people.”

The British Government has received a Note from Bulgaria saying that Mr Denis Greenhill, Fir*t Secretary of the British Legation at Sofia, has been declared persona non grata as a result of evidence given al the trial of the Bulgarian pastors. Reuter says that Mr Greenhill’s name was mentioned several times during the trial, mainly by the chief accused, Vassil Ziapkov.