OUTBURST OF SAVAGERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19660, 11 June 1927, Page 11

OUTBURST OF SAVAGERY.

ANTI-BRITISH ANGER. PRETEXT FOR ATROCITIES. HELPLESS PRISONERS KILLED. VENGEANCE OF THE REDS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received Juno 10, 10.25 p.m.) . A. and N.Z. LONDON, June 10. The news of the executions in Moscow , reached London too late for most of the . editions of the morning newspapers. It is safe to predict that there will be a sensation when it becomes known. The references in the Moscow communique to Sir R. M. Hodgson, and the other allegations affecting Britain, are certain to evoke indignant repudiation. An earlier message from Warsaw had said the demonstrations in Russia appeared to be against Britain rather than against Poland. It is apparent that the anger of the Soviet at the discovery of its plotting in London, followed as it was by the Voikoff murder, is being made the pretext for this savage outburst, of which helpless prisoners were the first and the easiest victims. The executions referred to in the mes : sage were apparently not only inspired by Russian anger over the Voikoff murder, but were reprisals for the incident repoited in a cablegram published yosterdav. This stated: A White Russian rescue party attacked a posse of agents of the Cheka who were in a motor-car and liberated their prisoner, a Polish intelligence officer, Lieutenant Jani. The ' latter had been captured near the frontier. 1 He was suspected of espionage. » A brisk fight occurred. As a result Opansky, the commander of the local I Cheka troops, and the driver 1 of the car were killed. k The Extraordinary Commission or Cheka outdid the secret police of the Tsarist • j regime during the early years of the revolution in Russia. It was served largely by hangmen, torture-masters and spies from the old police, who acted with more independence and greater cruelty. It was a cold-blooded and systematic , machinery for crushing human beings. From Bolshevist sources it was stated that " in 1918 the persons arrested on charges of counter-revolutionary activity, ' speculation, forgery of documents, etc., numbered 47,348. In 1918 the Cheka developed its activities, and 80,662 people were arrested. In 1918 6185 persons were 1 executed and in 1919 3456, and 11 per - cent, of the other prisoners were sen ■ tenced to compulsory labour, 29 per centretained in prison and 8 per cent, sent , into concentration camps." The quality of the victims was more important than 1 their quantity. Many of the best and most respected citizens of Moscow, men of leading families, were shot ifs "spies" in'l9lß. Whenever there was any special ' need or desire for extreme severity the Cheka was used as the instrument for suppression and execution. SOVIET ANT) POLAND. WARSAW MURDER SEQUEL. RUSSIANS' SINISTER ACTIONS. (Received June 10. 9.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z.-Sun. WARSAW, Jnne 10. The reply sent by the Polish menfc to the Soviet's Note protesting against the Voikoff murder was couched in most conciliatory terms. It disclaimed responsibility for the murder, however. The Note pointed out that Mr. Voikoff had repeatedly refused police protection on the ground that he had nothing to fear as it was well-known he was a friend of Poland. The reply assented to the Russian demand for representation at the trial ot the assassin, Kowerda, but only as representative of the widow, whom the Government of Poland said it was prepated to compensate. Reports from Moscow state that the. Soviet Government is preparing a second Note sharper in tone than the first one. Furthers arrests have been made in connection with the crime at Grodno, Brest Litovsk and elsewhere. Those arrested include ex-officers of the former armies of Generals Wrangel and Deniken.