PLEA OF NOT GUILTY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27259, 9 December 1949, Page 7

PLEA OF NOT GUILTY

Spy Charges Against Former Deputy Premier SURPRISE IN SOFIA COURT New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 9 p.m. SOFIA, Dec. 7. Traicho Kostov, a former Bulgarian deputy premier, today surprised the court trying him in Sofia for spying for Britain and plotting a Titoist anti-Soviet Balkans federation by pleading not guilty. Kostov admitted anti-Soviet activities and “ lack of vigilance.”

Ten other defendants are being tried with Kostov. They include the former Finance Minister, Ivan Stefanov, who faces charges which implicate Kostov. Stefanov pleaded guilty to all charges. He told the court that he had been a British agent inside the Communist movement for more than half his 30 years’ Communist career.

Before Stefanov gave evidence, the court ordered the reading of Kostov’s 32,000-word deposition in which he admitted the charges paragraph by paragraph. It took three hours to read. The prosecution said that Kostov’s later denials contradicted the admissions he had made earlier to the police. The which Kostov denied were: First, capitulation to the Bulgarian Fascists in 1942; secondly, espionage for the British Intelligence; and thirdly, plotting with Yugoslav leaders to establish an anti-Soviet Balkans federation. “Lack of Vigilance” Kostov pleaded guilty to anti-Soviet .activities and “lack of vigilance” in his official position, and admitted that he had tried to increase his authority in part at the expense of the late Bulgarian Prime Minister, Mr Georgi Dimitrov.. Kostov said that in 1944 the Yugoslavs invited the Bulgarian Communist Party to take part in a Balkans federation, with Bulgaria as part of Yugoslavia and her army under Marshal Tito’s command. The Yugoslav Vice-Premier, Edward Kardelj, came, to Sofia to discuss the project with him. He had told Kardelj that such a federation was impossible at the time. The indictment aUeges that he agreed to plan behind Mr Dimitrov’s back, but Kostov claimed today that he had informed Mr Dimitrov of the Yugoslav proposaL Stefanov told the court that he wanted to “tell the full truth because it is the only way I can show that I fuUy realise the extent and shame of my crime.” Stefanov : said he was recruited into the British Intelligence Service in 1942. First he worked through the British intelligence chief in Bulgaria, and then with Colonel William Bailey, who was the war-time British liaison officer with the Yugoslav Chetnik leader. General Mihailovitch, and later with the British Military Mission in Sofia.

Pressure on Yugoslavia

, In Belgrade today, the Yugoslav Director of Information, Mr Vlado Dedier, said that the Kostov trial was being staged to justify past and future Soviet pressure against Yugoslavia. It was also intended to make Bulgaria more dependent on Kussia, and to subordinate the Bulgarian Government completely to the Soviet Secret Police. Its other aims were to help suppress Bulgarian Communists and patriots fighting for equal relations between Bulgaria and Russia, and to intimidate Communists in other countries. A London message says The Times today cbndemned Kostov’s trial in Sofia as “ a simple act of terror which the prosecution nas not troubled to d'sguise.” The trial could only be interpreted as a - warning’ from Moscow that nobody in Eastern Europe, no matter how highly placed or how staunch a Communist, could consider himself safe if he had any past associations with the West or hesitated for a moment in carrying out Russian wishes, The Times added.