Petain Faces Accusers

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23262, 25 July 1945, Page 5

Petain Faces Accusers

Charge Of Plotting Against Republic Wild Scenes Witnessed In Court By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright LONDON, July 23. UnpflE inauguration of Jlarshal Petain’s personal rule 1 was the final realisation of a long-prepared plot against the Republican regime of France,” declared M. Andre Mornet, the 80-year-old prosecutor, when the aged Chief of the French State during the German occupation faced the judges on a charge of treason in the Palais de Justice in Paris this morning. When the indictment was read, Marshal Petain rose and protested his innocence. “While General de Gaulle was fighting for France outside the country 1 was fighting inside France to prepare for victory,” declared Marshal Petain. 1 have always fought France’s enemies. It was the French people who gave me whatever power I have had. This Court does not represent the French people. It has not been appointed or elected by the Assembly. “I have never led a dictatorship. I ask France not to forget what I did in 1916. I did not want power. Everyone asked me to assume power. I thought at that time that an armistice was indispensable to save France.” Marshal Petain said that these would be his only words during the trial. M. Mornet, when there were frequent interruptions from the body of the Court, declared: “There are too many Germans in this courtroom.” This resulted in a wild scene, which prevented Marshal Petain from continuing.

There were jeejjs and catcalls, upon ; which the Bench ordered the court ' to be cleared, and armed police began I making arrests among the spectators. [ Black-robed lawyers struggled with the I police to enter the courtroom and effect the release of those arrested. The police then arrested the lawyers who had ! protested, but they maintained that I they were immune within the courtroom. ' and they refused to leave unless they I were given an assurance that they would not be arrested. The guards, at the outset of the melee, immediately hustled Marshal Petain out. overturning tables and chairs in their hurry. Bedlam prevailed for a period, with spectators furiously waving their invitation cards under the noses of the police who were trying to eject them, and newspapermen, court officials, and witnesses clambered on to chairs, tables, and even the Judges' bench to watch the scuffle. Order was restored within 25 minutes. Tried to Spare People Marshal Petain concluded: I did treat with the enemy, but it was to spare you. I surrendered nothing essential to the enemy, although we had daggers at our throats. "The occupation compelled me, against my will and against my feeling-. to say things and to accomplish things which caused me greater suffering than they caused you. I know that millions of Frenchmen are thinking of men who gave them con- | fldence and remained loyal to me. For them, as for many throughout I the world I represent a tradition of the French and Christian civilisation confronting excesses of all tyrannies. "My life matters little. If you condemn me, let that be the last. Let no other Frenchman be condemned as a prisoner for having obeyed orders from his lawful chief. I sav, before the whole | world, that you v.’ould be sentencing on i innocent man, although you would I believe that you spoke in the name of ; justice. It would be an innocent man who would carry the burden—because I a Marshal of France asks mercy from j nobody. Your judgment will be answered by God and by posterity. These will suffice for my conscience and for my memory. I leave it to France." M Mornet said that none of the [ pleas which Marshal Petain was | exnected to put up in his defence stood j up’ to scrutiny. These were that he was not responsible for his Government’s acts and that he plaved a double game with the Germans by paying them lip ) service while really sympathising with i the Allies. M. Mornet produced a document I which accused Marshal Petain of | using his post as French Ambassador I to Madrid "to obtain financial assist- I ance and the promise of military aid." | The same document said that Marshal ■ Petain and Hitler had drawn up the , terms of the armistice between France : and Germany early in the war with I General Franco as an intermediary, but Hitler had not kept his promises. I The document was a record of the I interrogation of M. A.libert, a former I Minister of Justice, who is now believed to be in hiding. • Court Challenged The defence challenged the com- i petence of the Court, declaring that a magistrate of the High Court had taken I the oath of allegiance to Marshal , Petain. The prosecution replied that j the oath had no value as the country j was then under the law of the enemy, i The Court overruled the objection and ordered the trial to proceed. The Public Prosecutor will ask for the ! death sentence. Among the witnesses for the pro- j secution who were present at the I opening of the trial were M. Albert [ Lebrun. President of Fr. nee at the time , of the capitulation in 1940, and M. Paul Revnaud. who was Prime Minister in ; 1940. M. Reynaud, in evidence, admitted)

j making one fundamental mistake in believing in the patrii ’ism of Marshal Petain and General Weygand. | "When Marshal Petain was at the ' height of his power I des ecl him. To-day I pity him,” said M. Reynaud,

who paid a warm tribute to the courage and loyalty of Mr Churchill during the days of the collapse of France. The trial was adjourned this evening after a stormy first day’s hearing until to-morrow. Wore Marshal's Uniform Marshal Petain entered the court at noon wearing the insignia of a Marshal of France. He stood facing the tribune as the judges, in their scarlet and ermine robes, entered the court. Twenty-four members of the jury who | are stated to have been preparing for the trial for more than five years then ! began reading the indictment charging ' Marshal Petain with the betrayal of i France and intelligence with the enemy. | The court was crowded soon after I'll a.m. Detectives were posted discreetly in every part of the room and hundreds of armed Gendarmes formed a solid ring . immediately I around the Palais de Justice. Others j commanded corners for hundreds of yards. j parked interest is being envinced in j the trial in London where it is properly j counted as one of the many strange I events of a strange era. It is pointed out that, a Marshal of France is a great personage, perhaps the greatest of all | in a country like France where the ! army, more than any other national in- ’ stitution, has seemed to symbolise the j whole genius of the French people. ■ The "Daily Telegraph” sums up I British feeling when it states: “The ; necessity for- trying him is as regrettable to most Frenchmen as to the j friends of France in Britain who all | hope that the proceedings will be calm, | dignified, and dispassionate.”