50 Years Ago Today
KANELLOPOULOS ON BELOYIANNIS: During yesterday’s (December 10) session of Parliament, Mr Panayiotis Kanellopoulos criticized the stance of the defense minister (Vice-Admiral A. Sakellariou) in trying to postpone the trial of the Beloyiannis communist gang. Mr Sakellariou at that point read out a telegram from the Greek mission in Paris which advises not to hold trials or to carry out executions until after the end of the current term of the UN General Assembly. Mr G. Varvoutis (minister without portfolio) said this was actually the American mission’s recommendation. Kanellopoulos: I led a Greek delegation to the UN and I realized that after the war in Korea the truly free nations felt satisfaction when spies or traitors were arrested and punished accordingly. In my opinion, the government is not justified in accepting the recommendations and interrupting the trial. OVER THERE: Vienna – Western diplomats arriving here from Prague say Czechoslovakia has been shaken by a wave of arrests after allegations against the former secretary-general of the country’s Communist Party (CCP), Rudolf Slansky, for an attempt to bring down the regime. Laliotis and the proponents of his tactics now come to refute the above public convictions. They are trying to convince us that current problems are insignificant when compared with political events that took place 15 years ago; that the axis of the public activity is a bleak past and not a hopeful future.
