MAN WRONGLY EXECUTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 782, 1 October 1929, Page 9

MAN WRONGLY EXECUTED

GERMAN OFFICER TRIED AND ACQUITTED A REMARKABLE VERDICT Times Cable. LONDON, Thursday. The Berlin correspondent of “The Times” says the trial has been concluded of Lieutenant Eckermann. Defendant ordered the execution of Beyer, believing him to be a French spy, and because he regarded his execution as legally justifiable in order to avert Beyer’s attack on the Reich. “There were inadequate grounds for Eckermann’s belief. Therefore he committed involuntary homicide. But this falls within the amnesty of 1928, which remitted sentences for acts done from political motives.” Such was the remarkable verdict of the Court. So ends what is believed to be the last trial in connection with the Black Reichswehr, the former secret illegal reserve. It has provided a long series of murder trials in which its members were accused of killing comrades suspected of treachery. Eckermann was extradited from Guatemala and accused of murdering Beyer. . The Court awarded costs against the State. . . The Nationalist Press rejoices at the verdict, declaring that it proves that the so-called murders were due to love of the Fatherland. The Republican newspapers express the opinion that it is not a legal judgment, but a political move.