LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR FOUR BULGAR CLERICS FOR SPYING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22890, 9 March 1949, Page 7

LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR FOUR BULGAR CLERICS FOR SPYING

(N.Z.P.A.—Reuter —Copyright.) (11 a.m.) SOFIA, March 8. The four chief accused in the trial of the 15 Bulgarian Protestant pastors accused of spying were today sentenced to life imprisonment. They were:

Pastor Vassil Georgiev Ziapkov, the 48-year-old religious representative of the United Evangelical Churches in Bulgaria. Yanko Nikolo Evanov, aged 48, supreme supervisor of the Methodist Church. Nikola Mihailov Naumov, aged 49, president of the supreme council of the United Evangelical Churches and secretary of the Baptist Church Council.

Georgi Nikolov Chernev, aged •46, chief of the Adventist Evangical Council.

The court fined each of the four £835 and ordered the confiscation of their property. They were convicted of having collected and given military and economic information to a foreign Power. The president of the court, in announcing the sentences, said that all the accused had the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the Republic for the rehearing of the case. Lighter Sentences

He declared that in every country of the world such crimes as those committed by the accused would be punished by death or the heaviest penalty provided by law, but that because of the “sincere confessions” and the general attitude of the accused during the trial the court had decided on lighter sentences.

Pastor Ziapkov, the chief accused, stated in a loud, clear voice: “In view of the heavy crimes I have committed I consider this a light sentence. I thank you for your mercy.” He said the court had given him a chance to rebuild his life and he would do everything possible to make up for his crimes. The other defendants received prison sentences ranging from five to 15 years and fines ranging from £4 to £4B and, in addition, several were deprived of their political and civil rights for up to 20 years. “Travesty of Justice” The sentencing of the church leaders in Sofia was a “travesty of justice,” said Bishop Paul Garber, of the Geneva area of the Methodist Church. He added that the Sofia trial, following immediately after Cardinal Mindszenty’s and Bishop Ordas’ trials in Hungary, left no doubt about the ultimate aim of the Communist regimes, namely, to eradicate Christian influence in the life of certain European nations and to make impossible contact with Christians of the Western Allies. Dr. Garber said that a refugee pastor of the Reformed Church in Hungary had told him recently of being tortured for 73 days by Hungarian Communists. The pastor, after long mistreatment, reached a mental and moral state where it seemed to make no difference what he said or wrote in his confession.