NOW A PRISONER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21980, 26 March 1946, Page 5

NOW A PRISONER

CHETNIK LEADER GEN. MIKHAILOVITCH TRIAL IMMINENT LONDON, March 24. The Belgrade radio quoted the Minister of the Interior as telling the Yugoslav Parliament that General Mikhailovitch, with 11 of his followers, was arrested on March 13 in an old .is Minister added: “Among the many criminals trying to evade responsibility, General Mikhailovitch was the cleverest. He went from' mountain to mountain and from wood to wood. He was very clever, but our security organisations were clever, too. By arresting this ti-pitcr, we have unmasked the base campaign and the lies of the reactionary ’ press who, through several inveterate enemies of the new Yugoslavia such as Mr. Randolph Churchill, spread the rumour that General Mikhailovitch was waging a bitter struggle in the Yugoslavian mountains as the leader and commander of 60,000 well-armed soldiers. The statements that General Mikhailovitch several times went abroad for conferences with King Peter and General Anders are grotesque.” The radio added that General Mikhailovitch was the last hope of the reactionaries at home and abroad who were working against the Yugoslav Federal Republic. Reuter's correspondent says that General Mikhailovitch was recognised and. supplied by the Allies but was repudiated in 1944 by Mr. Churchill lor collaborating with the Germans against Marshal Tito’s Partisan armies. Halo of Romance Revealed The Belgrade radio said that General Mikhailovitch was held responsible by the Yugoslav Government for the death of 10,000 persons. The Associated Press recalls that a halo of romance was woven around General Mikhailovitch as a never-say-die lighter against the Germans. He was later denounced as having, with his Chetnik army, worked hand-in-glove with the Nazis. General Mikhailovi.tch’s name cropped up in the Nuremberg war crimes trial when the Serb quisling, General Nedic, submitted an affidavit asserting that within four months of the Nazis’ conquest of Yugoslavia, he paid money to General Mikhailovitch.

The Yugoslav authorities regarded General Mikhailovitch’s activities so seriously .that it issued a 600-page volume consisting of photographs and facsimilies of documents designed to prove the ex-War Minister was a traitor.

The Yugoslav authorities have already stated that General Mikhailovitch is to face trial for treason and war crimes.