EXECUTIONS IN SPAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 September 1938, Page 5

EXECUTIONS IN SPAIN

APPEAL BY THE CHETWODE COMMISSION GOVERNMENT AT ONCE AGREES. SUBJECT TO INSURGENTS DOING LIKEWISE. By Telegraph —Press Association. Copyright. BARCELONA, September 2. The Government has promptly responded to the appeal of the Chetwode Commission and has agreed to suspend all death sentences for offences committed prior to September 2, provided the insurgents do likewise. The Government is also prepared to do its utmost to facilitate the exchange of prisoners with Burgos. “If the civil war lasts another winter, the misery of the children may reach catastrophic proportions, owing to the lack of food and warmth,” declared the Swedish delegate of the League of Nations Commission which is assisting children in Barcelona. Crowds leaving amusement places stood in the streets tonight and loudly cheered as republican fighters, in a blaze of searchlights, pursued five raiders and drove them off after they had bombed a hospital train.

The following cablegram on the subject of the treatment of prisoners in Spain was received yesterday:— The Toulouse correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” states that evidence of 84 executions in Spanish Government jails last month and 66 in Nationalist jails last week confronted the British Commission for the exchange of prisoners at its opening session. It was decided to appeal to the Government and the Nationalist forces temporarily to suspend all death sentences. The Barcelona correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” has disclosed that the Government has noted that FieldMarshel Sir Philip Chetwode, chairman of the commission, is proposing as a basis of the negotiations for the exchange of prisoners the suspension of death sentences during September. The proposal will be accepted provided the insurgents reciprocate and Sir Philip Chetwode guarantees the fulfilment of his promise, but death sentences passed after September 1 will not be affected. The Burgos correspondent of “The Times” says it is officially announced that the Nationalists have taken 210,000 prisoners during the war; 134,000 have been freed, some are fighting with the Nationalist army, others are employed in the rear, and nearly 60,000 are in concentration camps.