SENTENCED AND SHOT

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 82, 31 December 1934, Page 7

SENTENCED AND SHOT

Nikolaev and 13 Others END OF SOVIET TRIAL (Received December 30, 6.35'p.m.) Moscow, December 30. Nikolaev and 13 associates accused of complicity in the murder of AL Kirov, were sentenced to death, shot, and their property confiscated. An official summary of the trial confirms cabled reports. It alleges that underground and counter-revolutionary work in the Leningrad centre became especially active in 1933-34 when, having lost all hope of support of the masses, the group started methods of terrorism with a view to securing a change of policy in the direction of the so-called Zinoviev-Trotskylst policy. The summary repeats the story about Nikolaev visiting a foreign consul, still unnamed, and receiving 5000 roubles. It concludes that the trial established that the accused organised and committed the murder of Kirov. Nikolaev, at his execution, showed the* jaunty, fearless air he displayed before the judges. He turned to the guard in the prison courtyard and shouted “The devil take you.” The executions will be followed by an intensive campaign against Zinoviev and Kamenev. M. Stalin, troubled by the tension, has ordered New Year’s Eve to be celebrated as never before under the Soviet regime. He will permit dancing in streets and provide dance bands and vodka gratuitously. • Invitations have been issued to the few distinguished Russians left and all foreign dignitaries to attend the first ball at the Kremlin since it became the seat of Government.