UKRAINIAN TERRORISTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22779, 15 January 1936, Page 7

UKRAINIAN TERRORISTS

CONCLUSION OF TRIAL MARKED BY VIOLENT SCENES WARSAW, January 13. Violent scenes marked the conclusion of the trial of 12 Ukrainian terrorists, allegedly organisers of the plot resulting in the assassination of the Polish Minister of the Interior, General Pieraeki, in June, 1934, by a young Ukrainian printer named Macieika, who escaped into Czechoslovakia after shooting General Pieraeki in the street. The trial began 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 responsible for the murder of King Alexander. The three principals, who _ were sentenced to death, broke out a stream of invective shouts of “ Long live Ukrainia,” and were carried struggling from the dock, after which it was announced that under the recent amnesty the sentences would be commuted to life imprisonment. Two others were sentenced to life imprisonment, and the remainder, including a woman from Egypt, from eight to 15 years. Large forces of mounted and foot police guarded the courthouse during the trial. Two young lovers were among the accused, Nicolaslibed being sentenced to death and the girl, Daria Hnatkivska, a famous Ukrainian beauty, to 15 years’ imprisonment. The police prevented a parting embrace.