TWO GAOLED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18067, 19 April 1933, Page 7

TWO GAOLED

ENGINEERS IN RUSSIA OTHERS TO BE DEPORTED FAMOUS TRIAL CONCLUDED • NONE SENTENCED TO DEATH . (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Prebs Assn.; (Received April 19, uoou.) dv MOSCOW”, April 18. r 1 Tho. hearing of the charges of espionage, "bribery > and sabotage against tho engibeers employed by Metropolitan-Vickers was concluded this .evening, when the court passed sentence on the prisoners. None of the accused was sentenced to death. \7. H. Thornton received the heaviest penalty of any of the Englishmen, being sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. W. H. MacDonald was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. Alan Monkhousc, the New Zealander; John Cushuy, and Charles Nordwall, were ordered to be deported within three days. -Gregory alone of tho Englishmen was acquitted. ... Mdlie Kutusova, the Russian secretary* to the company, was sentenced to 18 jntfnths’ imprisonment. Gdisev and Lobanov were each sentenced -to 10 years' imprisonment. M.; Vishinsky completely ignored the Sports of the Soviet’s own investigating commissions, that breakdowns in Moscow, Ivanovo, Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk, and other electrical stations were due to mismanagement, 'bad transport, and scarcity of skilled labor, which constantly caused serious damage to Moscow stations. None of tho Soviet’s reports mentions foreign engineers or wilful wrecking as the cause of the damage. (the newspapers signalised the last day of the trial by whipping up a tremendous spy, scare, copiously referring to Bruce-Lbckhart, O’Reilly, Colonel Lawrence,, and other alleged British spits. - Tho newspapers generally demanded death penalties in order to 1 demonstrate the-Soviet’s strength. • The Pravda declares that the I ickers employees were preparing for war. The court was packed and excited at the resumption. -. M. Ilya Braude, who has been defending counsel in many Soviet trials, said any bribes Thornton foolishly gave were for economic information, and not espionage. M. Braude spoke for 45 minutes, but was generally unconvincing. APPEIAL FOR NORDWALL On the other hand, Dalmatovsky, who is defending Gregory and Nordwall, immediately made good points. He said, for instance: ‘"Lobanov, .Oleinsk, and Thornton gave evidence against Nordwall, but tne prosecutor called them abject immoral types, so their evidence is discredited and worthless.” He demanded Nordwall’s acquittal. M. Dalmatovsky’s plea emphasising Nordwall’s attachment to his Russian wife, his family life, and also his pro-Bolshevist sympathies, strengthened Nordwall’s prospects. Counsel decided that it was not necessary to plead for Gregory, whose release was. regarded as certain. Cushny’s counsel, M. Lidoff, declared that there was insufficient documents to

incriminate the prisoner. Moreover, the charges were based partly on a breakdown at Baku in 1928, concerning which testimony was only now forthcoming, i Cushny was alleged to be guilty of bribery because he lent small sums to workers .who sometimes failed to repay them. Cushny received political and economic, and not military information. He was interested in everything Russian, but not from a spy's viewpoint. ,M. Kodomov, defending Monkhouse, opened unconvincingly, like M. Braude, causing a frown on Monkhouse's lined, careworn face, and an expression of profound pessimism. M. Kodomov said that though long residence in Russia had formed a bond between Thornton and Monkhouse, the evidence showed that Thornton did not tell Monkhouso all about his activities. Monkhouse could not have been the central figure of the group, as the prosecution alleged, because Sokolov and MacDonald did net name him. though they implicated Thornton. M Kodomov pleaded with the judges not to confuse Monkhouso with Thornton, who himself was clearly the central figure and had attempted to implicate Monkhouse. “WANTON OUTRAGE” LONDON PRESS COMMENT ,r MESSAGE FROM THORNTON LONDON, April 18. Thornton’s wife received through the Foreign Office her husband’s personal cryptic message warning her "not to be shocked" over the result of the trial. The message added: “I have'little doubt that my punishment will .be the most severe of all the Englishmen." Thornton asks his wife to be brave, adding: “but I cannot stand the agony of waiting for sentence much longer." The Morning Post says: "The Soviet's wanton outrage of our subjects could only have been devised with one object, namely, in order to pick a quarrel, and use it as an excuse to 'repudiate inconvenient debts. Undpr the export guarantee system, we incurred a liability of £7,000,000 in order to, encourage Anglo-Russian trade. .This is likely to become a bad debt. It will, however, bo some com pehsation to know that it ends the arrangement to use British money and credit to bolster up and strengthen an avdwed enemy." The Daily Mail says: "The Independent Labor Party, which proclaimed support for the Soviet against their own countrymen, dishonor themselves at a moment whon Moscow is giving the world an object lesson in what Soviet justice means." ALAN MONKHOUSE NEW ZEALAND TO MOSCOW BROTHER IN WANGANUI Mr W. Monkhouse, a teacher on the Btaff of the Waiiganui Friends’ School, is a brother of Mr Alan Monkhouso, one of the British engineers involved in :the Soviet.sabotage charges. When interviewed in Wanganui he gave the following particulars of his brother. Alan, at the age of H year*, went to

England on a holiday with his family, and remained behind when the others returned to New Zealand. He was educated at King William College, Isle of Man, and the Manchester University. Twenty-two years ago he went to Rus•ia, where, after some years, he built. ;t an engineering business, which he lost during the revolution. After many hardships and difficulties lie managed lo reach England via Vladivostok and he US.A. Towards the end of the war Mr Monkhouse served with the British forces for a time, and after the war joined Metropolitan Vickers. In 1023 he was sent by the firm to Rusda, and he has been engaged there ■ver since in work for them there. Mr Monkhouse is 45 years of age, and married, with one son and a daughter, who reside in Hertfordshire with their ( mothor. He is a member of the British Institute of Electrical Engineers, and a fellow of the Physical Society. He has published several books on engineering, and is considered an authority on engineering materials.