REICHSTAG FIRE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 956, 28 December 1933, Page 1

REICHSTAG FIRE.

Appeal for Commutation of Death Sentence. CASE OF YOUNG DUTCHMAN. United Ureas Assn.--By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received December 28, 11 a.m.) BERLIN, December 27. The Dutch Government has appealed for the commutation of the death sentence passed on Marinus Van der Lubbe, a Dutch workman, in connection with the Reichstag fire. The result of the

: appeal is problematical because the ! German law requires a prisoner to make such a request. In the meantime Van i der Lubbe remains silent. i A cable message from Leipzig on De- ■ cember 23 stated that there was abso- • lute silence in the densely-packed Court • when the President. Dr Hunger, pro- ! nounced the sentences in the Reichstag i fire trial. Van de Lubbe was sentenced to death for high treason, but the ether four accused were acquitted. The men accused of setting fire to the Reichstag were: Marinus Van der Lubbe (24;. a Dutch workman: Ernst Torgler (40), former Reichstag deputy and German Communist leader; Georg Dimitroff (51), a Bulgarian writer; j Blagoi Pop ft (.31*. a Bulgarian stujdent: Wassil Taneff (3G». a Bulgarian ! shoemaker. All heard the result unI moved, Van der Lubbe sitting in the bowed attitude which he had assumed ! throughout. He did not show' the | slightest interest, and did not ever, raise his head. ! An Amsterdam telegram of the ! ame date stated that Van der Lubbe | would present a petition to President Hindenburg for clemencv, as no appeal j was possible from the Supreme Court. J If he rejected the petition, the Dutch I Government would make representations on the ground that no death, j penalty for the crime c.n which Van der ; Lubbe was accused was provided by j German law at the time of the Reich- | stag fire. “An Upright Verdict.” LONDON, December 27.j A leading article in “The Times” I entitled “An Upright Verdict,” says: | ‘‘No message could be more seasonable | to lovers cf justice than the acquittal j of the defendants in the Reichstag fire ; trial, with the exception of the selfi confessed incendiary Van der Lubbe, whose conviction was inevitable. The ! result has vindicated the good sense ! and integrity of the German judiciary, j The fifty-seven days of the inquiry served to establish beyond question the j innocence of Torgler and the Bui* I garians. and by reaching the only verj diet consonant with honour and justice i the Court struck a blow for humanitv.” j" The “Daily Telegraph” says: “The j honour of the Supreme Court and, with j it. of German justice, has been fully i vindicated.” j The “Manchester Guardian” says: ' “ The Court had the courage to per- ! fo-rm its duty cf considering the evidence on its merits.”