DEATH SENTENCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 278, 24 November 1936, Page 7

DEATH SENTENCE

Russian Sabotage Trial STRICKLING TO DIE i GERMANY INDIGNANT . AMBASSADOR INSTRUCTED By Feierraph—Press Assoc ialio i—Copyright! MOSCOW, Nov. 22. The German, Strickling, and eight other accused persons have been sentenced to be shot for sabotage. When the trial was resumed Leonencko gave evidence that he was promised a motor-car, a flat, a gramophone, and a camera when he began wrecking work. He added; “I only received the camera.” The accused Noskoff gave evidence that Strlckling’s Trotsky supporters had as their objective the restoration oi capitalism and the establishment of a Fascist regime. The accused Kovalenko admitted that he used his position as chief engineer of a mine for the purpose of wrecking in accordance with StrickEng's instructions. The accused Lyaschenko, in evidence, said ne sabotaged the ventilation of a pit and organised a gas explosion. Allegations that Russian miners were gassed like rats as a result of sabotage were made at the trial. Some of the Trotskyist accused admitted that they had neglected to ventilate the mines and had also sought to cause the collapse of the galleries. Strickling further confessed that he kept the German Consul at Novosibirsk informed of the sabotage and received instructions from him. He added that the German Secret Police had ordered him to collaborate with followers of Trotsky in sabotage. Accused appealed for clemency, but the plea is expected to be rejected in the case of Strickling, who is the first foreigner sentenced to death by a Soviet Court. A Berl n message says the German Ambassador a* Moscow has been ordered to make fresh representations regarding Strickling, stating that the German Government regarded the verdict as incredible, and demanding that Strickling be immediately reprieved. The sentence has caused intense indignation throughout Germany.