XS, What I saw at the Poznan trials a major step forward in the creation of a new social- ist legality, of the further democratization of the law in Poland. = Poznan trials must mark Even the most hostile obser- vers have had reluctantly to admit that regardless of other faults or defects these trials are genuinely free trials, if net fully public. There has been some critici- cism among foreign journal- ists present about limitations of press and public represen- tation, talk of the court being “heavily guarded” and turned into “a fortress’? and of the Poznan public being excluded. It is true that the immediate approaches to the court have been cordoned off by armed militiamen — but militiamen are always armed in Poland; that a pass is needed to get through the ‘cordon into the court; that members of the Poznan public are only admit- ted to the court by passes which have been distributed through certain mass organi- zations and that foreign press representation has been lim- ited to existing Warsaw cor- respondents and the main press agencies and radio organiza- tions. But the practical alternative to such arrangements must have meant holding the trials in somewhere like the Poznan opera house and that would have meant the danger of their degenerating info a massive “show.” If public admission was merely on a “first come first in” queue then thousands of Poznanites would: be lining up day and night for the privil- ege. e The changes in legal prac- tice that. have been registered during the trial must add up to a revolution in Polish legal practice. To begin with statements — “confessions” — made before the court hearing under inter- rogation by the accused can never again feature as the main part of prosecution evi- dence on which a prisoner can be convicted. Its value has been -blown sky-high in practice in these trials as both accused and wit- nesses in long and _ astonish- ing procession have _ insisted that they flagrantly lied under interrogation, that only what they are saying in open court is true. There was a quite pathetic moment in the first trial when the judge asked one young witness who had just retracted all his previous statements. to look him in the eye and plead- ed with him in a fatherly man- ner: “Now tell me, boy, what is the truth?” The reasons given by both accused and witnesses for their lies is that in all cases they were intimidated. They were either physically . beaten or made to believe that. if they did not say what was requir- ed of them they would be beat- en. The past ten years experl- ence, the widespread public knowledge that such: methods of extorting evidence were common practice, made them only too ready to accept the inevitable. “T thought if I did what was wanted I’d get off lighter and I didn’t want to be beaten,” many have explained in rec- tracting previous statements. They had merely affirmed questions put to them by the interrogator. The prosecution’s admission in court that the use of force against some of the accused and witnesses had been dis- covered, and that militia of- ficials responsible had been dismissed or were under ar- rest probably marked the his-" torical fullstop to that kind of abuse in Poland. With this freeing of the pro- cess of gathering evidence likely to reveal the truth in court there has also been a liberation. of the defense. It is well known that over the-past period the defense in major Polish trials, particu- larly those which were in any way politically angled, was more formal than actual. And at first in these trials the ex- perience of those years evi- dently weighed on the defense lawyers. They were stiff and awkward in their methods as if rusty from lack of use. But as the defense counsel realized their new freedom they came to life. They ar- gued and pleaded with some- times inspired skill on legal, social, political, psychological, medical and even ideological grounds on their clients’ be- half. Undoubtedly in the case of the three youths convicted of being involved in the lynching By GORDON CRUICKSHANK . proceedings of the security officer the de- fense won a definite victory. Stanislas defense counsel for Sroka — formulation that “hooligans are made, not born”. and that “all of us” are responsible for Heymowski’s — -them, reached farther than the ears of the judges. Masses of Poznan people who listened to the trials on the air three hours a day (loud- speakers relayed the _pro- grams) have taken Heymow- ski’s point +o heart. The prose- cuton agreed that the court should take the backgrounds of the accused into account. The -judges announced that they had done so in passing sentence. It can fairly be .said that the example of the defense in the Poznan trials will at least greatly influence future trials, might even be a model for them. & Other methods and practises in these trials will also un- doubtedly influence future if only in the sense that they are rejected. The present procedure in which the presiding judge rather than the prosecution and the defense conduct the trial, initiating examination of accused and witnesses, will certainly be reviewed. Eskimos face starvation a It has been modified in prac- tise in these trials as the im- patient defense became more insistent and demanding. Ev- eryone in court on occasions has been dying for certain evasive and dithering witness- es to be really examined rath- er than allowed to wallow along. ; The present practise of hav- ing one presiding judge who is a professional lawyer, and two lay judges elected by mass organization -and institutions and with powers to outvote the presiding judge when it comes to the sentence, is al- ready under review. The whole question of pos- sible “influence”? by some au- thority outside of the court is raised when it comes to the lay judges. The practice~ of the court al'owing — indeed, insisting upon — the accused having complete freedom to inter- vene in their own defense is admirably democratic, | but open to question. It is pathetic to see some of them clumsily attempting to cross-examine witnesses and succeeding only in letting out evidence to their own disad- vantage, while their defense council sits with glum and sor- rowful expression. However, the principle involved here is SKIMO and Indian bands between the Mackenzie River and Hudson Bay are threatened by the decline in the caribou herds upon which they depend for food, accord- ing. to the department of northern affairs. Disease, slaughter by wolves and killing by Eskimos and Indians have reduced the herds by an estimated 40 per- cent in the past two years. As a result, there is a steady migration of natives to , the Arctic coastal areas where they can fish and where food is generally more plentiful. In an interview at Church- ill, Manitoba, Bill Kerr, north- ern affairs official, said that Eskimos living along the shores of Hundson Bay and on Baffin Island had not yet been affected. But conditions in Keewatin and Mackenzie ter- ritories were becoming grave. OCTOBER 26, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — — c -some 500,000, where on! so fundamenally right clearly cannot be curbed hastily. But perhaps among” many revelations of thes® one of the most shocking been the display of ineptit on the part of the miliie in court. o? They have shown Up 85) 9” trained men of low morale educational level—undeh : too. r } Eight of them in a row not able (or afraid) 10 ™ tify one man among he © accused who had taken * in disarming them. As witnesses they wel® ry able to give their evident herently. They lacked poth & perience and training. brought feelings of pet” geance into the court.» : Much evidence sugeests het they lacked loyalty and o gave up their arm or at least did not rest disarmed. Be Significantly it was wt that a squad of militia! stood by some of the while“the security office W being beaten to death. si implied that they wee to intervene. rf The authorities have i to be alarmed at the ga s the militia. But the hel a public is only amuse They are saying ©? ously: “The lads wet + ho of the guns they got ow and didn’t know -~ tial handle, and the mili uns were scared that the. might go off.” A feature of the trials has been almost unani ote applauded in Pozna “ape are the first sentence: wise are considered to-P® ion ® lenient and an exp justice for the individua™ : 3 f : An accurate account a he bou was difficult to ar Kerr explained. It takes ® two years for the moss eat to grow again a? therefore, often change routes of their north-so4 grations, a : The northern affaits ote said he would estimay ate total number of als ots | a3 jions: - were counted in mi av Eskimos and indiae ot been instructed t0 strip {he trap lines to kill © ta wolves, but despite ste over™ en by biologists - and 0 ment officia!s the a population continues Wolves have taker of toll of caribou. . 4 poe scheme, with strychnine “le ed meat hung on WO% |. ccd killed about 200 of engers’ this summet-