FUCHS PLEADS GUILTY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 117, 2 March 1950, Page 5

FUCHS PLEADS GUILTY

DIVULGING ATOMIC SECRETS i , MAXIMUM SENTENCE IN.Z.P. A.—Copyright) (Rec. 10.0 a.m.) LONDON, March 1. Dr. Klaus Emil Fuchs, Ger-man-born atomic scientist, pleaded guilty to-day to charges of having divulged information on atomic research that could be useful to any enemy. He was given the maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment.

Newsmen from all over the world jammed into the court for the case. Fuchs was tried on charges of having communicated to a person unknown in 1947 information in relation to atomic research calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy and prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State. Another charge alleged that in 1945, at Boston (Massachusetts), he communicated to a certain person similar information about atomic research.

The Attorney-General (Sir Hartley Shawcross) prosecuted, and Mr Derek Curtis Bennett, K.C., appeared for Fuchs.

In the distinguished visitors’ gallery were officials of the United States Embassy, the * United States Atomic Energy Commission and the British Ministry of Supply, and the Duchess of Kent, who was paying her first visit to the Old Bailey. Fuchs received the maximum sentence he could be given. Britain’s most sensational spy trial ended a little more than an hour after Fuchs murmured “guilty” almost casually in whispered tones. Fuchs told the court that he had' had a fair trial. Lord Chief Justice Goddard passed sentence after sharply commenting: “The accused is one of the most dangerous men the country could have on its shores.”

COMMITTED OTHER CRIMES SHARP COMMENT BY JUDGE % _ (Rec. 10.0 a.m.) LONDON, March 1. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Goddard, passed sentence on Fuchs after sharply commenting: “The accused is one of the most dangerous men the country could have on its shoves.” Asked if he had anything to say, Fuchs declared in a low voice: “I have also committed some crimes other than the one with which I am charged. When asked by my counsel to put certain facts before you, 1 did so in order to atone for those other crimes. I had a fair trial.” •

Sentencing Fuchs, Lord Goddard declared: “Ypu have imperilled friendship between this country and the great American Republic with whom his Majesty is allied. You have done irreparable harm both to this land and to the United States, and you did it clearly for the purpose of fuvtlienng your own political creed. You have imperilled the right to asylum which this country has hitherto extended to political refugees. Dare we now give shelter to political refugees who may be followers of this pernicious creed, who well may disguise themselves and bite the hand that feeds them?” Lord Goddard, announcing sentence,, declared:, “Your statement shows the depth of self-deceptiqif into which people like yourself can fall. Your crime is only thinly differentiated from high treason. How can I be sure that a man of your mentality may not at any other minute allow some curious working of his mind to lead him further to betray the secrets of the greatest possible value ancj importance of this land.” '

There were four charges against Fuchs. The first related to Birmingham; the second to New York; the third to Boston, and the fourth to the British atomic research station at Harwell, in Berkshire. In each case Fuchs was tried for having “communicated to a person unknown information relating to atomic research, calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy and prejudicial to the safety or interests of the Stale.”

Presenting the Crown's case, Sir Hartley Shaw cross said: “This is a case of the utmost gravity—l suppose as serious as any that has ever been prosecuted under this Statute (the Official Secrets Act of 1899).

Misguided Belief

Sir Hartley Shawcross declared that Fuchs sincerely but misguidedly believed that the Communist movement was trying to build a new world. However, “Fuchs and other Communists did not realise that it is to be a world dominated by a single Power. That the information communicated was likely to be of the utmost value to an enemy is unhappily a matter which admits of no doubts.”

The country to which the ihformation was C9nveyed need not actually be an enemy at present, said Sir Hartley. It was enough that the foreign country concerned could be a potential enemy—ono which, owing to some unhappy change in circumstance, might become an actual ’ enemy, although perhaps a friend at the time the information . was communicated. That country might never become an enemy. In this case the information was, in fact, conveyed to agents of the Government of the Soviet Union. Our relations with that country leave much to be desired. They are not those of amity. Everyone hopes eventually that wiser counsels will prevail, and that that country will live in friendship with the rest of' the world, but it must have been obvious to the prisoner that the information conveyed to agents of the Government would have value if that country ever did become an actual open enemy.”

Tragedy of the Case

Sir Hartley Shawcross continued: “It follows that the information was conveyed for purposes prejudicial to safety and interest of the State. The prisoner is a Communist, and that is at once the explanation and, indeed the tragedy of this case. Apart from the great harm he has done to the country which he adopted, and which adopted him, it is a tragedy when a man of high intellectual attainment allows his mental processes to become

so warped by devotion to Communism thfft, as he himself says, he became a kind of controlled . schizophrenctic. The dominant part of his mind allowed him to do things which other parts clearly recognised were; wrong. His statement as far as we have been able to check, it, we believe to be true. It is a very object lesson in the meaning of modern Communism. Supporters of the Communist Party believe they must become potential traitors to their own country and subordinate the interest of their own country to interests of their international Communist movement. It was because of these facts that this brilliant scientist came to place this country and himself in this terrible position.”