DEFENCE OPENED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21470, 19 April 1933, Page 11

DEFENCE OPENED

MacDONALD'S PART ADMISSION OF OFFENCE COUNSEL FOR RUSSIANS ENGLISHMEN BLAMED s By Iclcgrnpli—Press Association—Copyright 1 MOSCOW, April 37 R The defence of tho Vickors COlll- - employees at the trial in Mosr cow was opened to-day. j: M. Sinirnoll', counsel for MaeDonald, speaking calmly, impressed even 0 the Judges and obviously roused his 0 client's drooping spirits. He rebutted 1 an assertion by Al. Kazachiev, counsel !( for tho Russian accused, that the y Britons were responsible for the Russians' guilt. Mac Donald was an underline:, who could not bo classed with Monkhouse or Thornton, said M. Smirnoif. Ho admitted a serious crime, but pledged himself never to repeat it. Mac Donald passed a noto to tlu> president of the Court, M. Ulrich, apparently a plea for a reply, but it was not answered. 7 M. Kazacliiev, in opening' tho defence on behalf of Gusev, Sokolov and Oleinik, threw the blame on the Britons in order to exculpate his own clients. 0 He said it was funny that Monkhouse and Thornton were regarded as heroes Q abroad, when they had committed 0 crimes for which they would not be 0 worshipped at homo, r Some information regarding Court methods in Russia have been given by 0 Mr. A. Patkin, of Melbourne, a former colleague of the barristers selected to 0 conduct tho defence of the Metropolitan r Vickers employees in tho present case. Messrs. Nicholas Komodoff, Peter , s Lidoff, Aaron Dolmatovsky and ilia Beaude all graduated from the Univer--0 sity of Moscow under the Tsarist ree gime and had then practised ill the n Moscow Courts. With the exception of x Dolmatovsky, all had specialised in criminal work and taken part in many important trials. Dolmatovsky, who was i. also a graduate of Heidelberg, Germany, was noted in civil cases, and lectured in civil law at Moscow University. None of the four was a Communist, Mr. Patkin said. They belonged to the left wing of the Liberal Democratic Party. Lidoff had been chief of the Moscow "police during the Kerensky revolution. Although all had been educated in the old legal code of Tsarist Russia, they had adapted themselves to the new ' methods of the Soviet, while they had . tried to maintain the standards and f the etiquette of the Russian Bar of pre-war days. The Courts in Russia, Mr. Patkin said, were not divided from the polis tical system. They were organs of the 1 dictatorship to combat the enemies of the State. The Judges were recruited, 1 not from the Bar, but from the Comi munist Party only. Some elasticity was allowed the Courts in ordinary criminal cases, but in cases of political import- ' ance like the present one the Judges > received full instructions from the party , headquarters. It was practically certain that the verdict and sentence of i 1 the Vickers employees had already been ■ decided, and that the whole trial was , a " show " for propaganda purposes. The Ogpu, which was formerly the Cheka, or secret police, worked in close 1 association with the Court, and both were subservient to Communist headquarters. Krvlenko, the Chief-Prose-cutor, whom Air. Patkin knew well while he practised as a barrister in . Moscow, until 1922, was described as a blind fanatic, who considered any means justified in achieving the Soviet end. The task of the defending barristers i was therefore a most difficult one. Ae- , cording to Soviet ideas, the defending counsel were not called on to defend 1 their clients, but to help the prosecui tion investigate the crime from a new angle. A real defence of the British engineers would be impossible if it had been decided politically to condemn them. The barristers would run too much risk in attempting it. Judging bv previous " show " trials, such as the Donetz Basin trial, in 1928, and the Menshevik Partv case in 1930, it was almost certain that the engineers would be sentenced. It would then be left to diplomatic action to save them from the bullets or dungeons of the Ogpu. Mr. Patkin thought they i were verv likely to be saved from any extreme "penalty, as Britain was powerful enough to exert pressure on the ' Soviet.

MR. A. MONKHOUSE DETAILS OF CAREER BROTHER IN WANGANUI [by telkgraph—OWN correspondent] WANGANUI, Tuesday Mr. Monkhouse, a teaclier at The Friends' School, Wanganui, is a brother of Mr. Allan Monkhouse, one of the Vickers engineers being tried in Moscow. In an interview to-day he gave the following particulars concerning his brother: — Mr. Allan Monkhouse is a son of the Inte Mr. William Monkhouse, of Lowgarth, Stratford, and Mrs. Monkhouse, of Worcestershire, Kngland, who is visiting New Zealand at present. At the age of 14 years lie went to England f>n a holiday with his family, and remained behind j when the others returned to New Zenj land. He was educated at King William I College, Jsle of Man, and at Manchester University. Twenty-two years ago Mr. Allan Monkhouse went to Russia, where, after some years, he built up an engineering business, which ho lost during the revolution. After many hardships lie I managed to reach England, via Vladivostok and America, toward the end of 1916. He served with the British forces for a time, and after the war joined the Metropolitan Vickcrs Company. in 192.'} he was sent by that firm (<» Russia, and he has been engaged I ever since in work for them there. Mr. Allan Monkhouse is now 45 years of age, and is married, with a son and j a. daughter, who live in Hertfordshire | with their mother. Ho is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, a Fellow of the Physical Society, and has published several books on engineering. He is considered an authority on engineering materials. " Up to the present my brother has got on very well with the Russians," said Mr. Monkhouse. "He has had no complaints to make of conditions in the Soviet. He was visited quito often by his wife, and he was permitted to como and go at will. There were no restrictions in that respect." Mr. Monkliouso said he heard from his brother by every mail. There is a sister living in England. Miss S. Hogg, a retired school mistress, of Christchureh, is following the fortunes of Mr. Allan Monkhouse, whose trial in Russia to-day is attracting world-wide attention. She taught young Monkhouse about .10 years ago at the Stratford High School and was a close friend of tho boy's parents. " Allan was a nicely mannered bo.v of sturdy appearance—thoroughly English,'' Miss Hogg said last week. "Ho was really a fine boy."