MANY DISMISSALS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26713, 6 March 1948, Page 7

MANY DISMISSALS

CZECH MINISTRY OF JUSTICE COMMUNIST PURGE IN FULL SWING N.Z.P. A.—Copyright Rec. 11.15 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 5. The purge of the Czech Judicial Bench promised by the new Communist Minister of Justice, Dr Cepicka. is now in full swing, says the Prague correspondent of The Times. Yesterday’s dismissals included four judges of the Supreme Court, the State Procurator, and three of his • assistants from the State Attorney’s office in Prague, and the president and vicepresident and other judges from the Prague District Court, and eight provincial district courts. Sixteen leading officials of the Ministry of Justice itself have been “ sent on leave,” and the personal secretary of Dr Drtina, former Minister of Justice, has been dismissed. These changes, The Times correspondent adds, are a necessary prelude to the switch-over from what the new regime calls Drtina justice to Cepicka justice. Drtina justice, it is said, was chiefly concerned with “arranging” the acquittal of those against whom the Communists had brought charges of collaborating with the Germans. They will be all retried. M. Jan Masaryk. the non-party Czechoslovakian Foreign Minister, addressing the National Defence Ministry officials, said: “Our place is at the side of the Soviet Union, and we must be grateful if the Soviet Union allows us to stand there,” says Reuter's Prague correspondent. M. Masaryk added that they had to do their best in order not to be attacked by Germany. “ Germany is, and will be our everlasting enemy.” The President, Dr Benes, has been ordered a complete rest because of illness, says an official announcement in Prague. Dr Benes is remaining at his country residence, and it is understood that the Prime Minister, M. Klement Gottwald, will carry out the presidential duties. Thousands who fear persecution because of their known opposition to Communism have tried to cross the frontier into the American zone of Germany. According to unofficial reports, armed workers, militiamen, and trained dogs have reinforced the frontier guards. Many students, it is reported, set out last week-end for “ winter sports ” in the western mountains, hoping to escape, or to help others to escaoe Professor Adolf Prohazka, one of the Ministers whose resignations recipitated the political crisis, tried to flee with his wife to the United States zone in Germany, according to the Communist newspaper. Rude Pravo. The paper did not say whether the professor had been arrested. It added that his 19-year-old daughter, Mlada, had been arrested while trying to cross the border with a member of Parliament named Deci. Social Democrat headcmnrters announced that the Right Wing Social Democrat deputies had been expelled from the party and asked to resign their parliamentary seats.