EXECUTION TO-MORROW

Chronicle (Levin), 17 July 1946, Page 5

EXECUTION TO-MORROW

, Press Assn.

Mikhailovitch Appeal Faiis SENTENCE SAID TO BE JUST

By T elegraph

-Copyright

Received Wednesday, 11 a.m. LONDON, July 16.. An appeal against the death sentence by General Draga Mikhailovitch, the Chetnik leader, has been rejected by the Presi'dium of the Yugoslav National Assembly. The execution is expected to take place- at dawn to-morrow. Mikhailovitch was found guilty of collaboration with the Germans. Justice has been done, declared Marshal Tito, commenting in Belgrade on the death sentence. He added, according to Belgrade radio, I that Mikhailovitch was associated with all forms of reaction. "Now reaction tries to take its revenge in denying us Trieste," iie said. However, they would not accept the Paris decisions. "We shall not embark on adventures, but shall continue to defend our stand-point," concluded Marishal Tito. I An attack against British and j American officers in liaison with ! General Mikhailovitch was deliverjed by the President of the Court, I Colonel Mikhailo Djeorgevitch, 1 before sentencing the Chetnik j leader to death, says Reuter 's BelI grade correspondent. I The Washington correspondent | of the Associated Press says that an unofficial Mikhailovitch Committee has appealed to President Truman and the British Prime Minister, Mr. Attlee, urging them to intercede with the Yugoslav Government in an effort to save General Mikhailovitch's life. The committee conducted public hearings during May, and subsequently declared that it had found no evidence that General Mikhailovitch had collaborated with the Axis. M. Constantin Fotich, a former Yugoslav Ambassador to Washington has sent a message to President Truman urging him to "use all your authority with the Belgrade Government to set aside General Mikhailovitch's monstrous sentence." M. Fotich declared that if the death sentence were carried out it would greatly afl'ect Yugoslavia's tranquility.