TRIAL IN WARSAW

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22317, 15 January 1936, Page 11

TRIAL IN WARSAW

TERRORISTS SENTENCED DEATH PENALTY COMMUTED WARSAW, Jan. 13 Violent scenes marked the conclusion of the trial of 12 Ukrainian terrorists who were alleged to have been the organisers of the plot which resulted in the assassination of the Polish Minister of the Interior, General Pieracki, in June, 1934, by a young Ukrainian printer, Macieika, who escaped into Czechoslovakia after shooting General Pieracki. The trial was begun in November. There were 140 witnesses for the prosecution, which suggested that the Nationalist organisation to which the accused belonged was linked with the organisation which was responsible for the murder of King Alexander of Yugoslavia. The three principal accused, who were sentenced to death, broke into a stream of invective and shouts of: "Long Live Ukrainia." They were carried struggling from the dock. Two young lovers were among tho accused who were sentenced to death. The girl, Daria Natkivska, is a famous Ukrainian beauty, aged 15. The police prevented their parting embrace. It was announced later that under the recent amnesty the sentences had been commuted to imprisonment for life. Two others were sent to gaol for life, and the remainder, including a woman, were sentenced to from eight to 15 years' imprisonment. Large forces of mounted and foot police guarded the court during the trial.