HEATED ARGUMENT

Chronicle (Levin), 21 March 1946, Page 5

HEATED ARGUMENT

TRIAL OF FRENCH DOCTOR | PARIS, March 19. ! When the case against Dr. Petiot was • j resumed at the Palais de Justice to-day, j the defending counsel pointed out that j ; the additional mur Jers which accused | maintained he had committed were not listed in the indictment and were tnere- j : fore irrevelant. ! A heated argument broke out in the 1 Court in which the lawyer who was ciej fendmg the civil interests of the vic- j j tirns' families shouted to Petiot: "I'll j ■ smash your face in!" The President asked Petiot how ! ' many collahorators were among his j ! victims and Petiot replied; "I kiii&n ! only two Germans — motor-cyclists. x j ' Killed tliem with my secret weapon. j which leaves 110 trace. ' ' j I Counsel for one of the victims asked j him to be more explicit. Petiot said: "Wno are you to stana up as a defender of the Prench Resistance? You may have done some goocl resistance work3 at some time, but at 1 present you are only defending the J ews. ' ' Applause followed counsel' s reply: — "You are insulting the Resistance Movement and I'll Dreau your neck!" Later Petiot said that the members oi I his "Plytox" Resistance group used to ] trail German suspects, hustle them into a van at the point of machineguns and j .take them to his house, from where J they were ' ' taken for a ride ' ' to the | woods outside Paris, where sometime^i the bodies were left. After Petiot had replied to a number l of questions on the detaiis of his claim j to have killed two Germans, the Presi- j dent remarked: "You will soon say j you would not kill a rabbit. ' ' | Petiot's counsel: My client is accused i in connection with the disappearance oi j 27 persons. I don't see wliat mueres- 1 there is in the fact that he killed two extra Germans. Petiot broice down when he told the Court he had seen "Resistance comrades beaten up, some lying dead on the iioor," when he was taken to the Gestapo headquarters in April of 1943. Petiot said his brother, on the pre tence of cleaning windows, o^taipej quicklime with which to dispose of the bo.dies at a house in the Rue le Sueur. The remains did not disappear quickly enough, and Petiot decided to burn them in the basement stove. The public prosecutor (M. Dupin) interruptefi, deipanding the names of tne people oi wpom petiot spoxe as Resistance comrades. Petiot: When I am acquitted I'll give the names. M. Dupin: Acquitted? Ha! Ha!,