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-