868.00/3–2348
The Acting Secretary of State to Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg
My Dear Senator Vandenberg: I refer to Professor Sumner B. Myers’ letter of March 15, 1948,1 which is returned herewith, concerning the alleged recent execution by the Greek Government of two “political prisoners” jailed by the Nazis in 1944 and imprisoned ever since.
It is not possible, of course, to reply specifically to Professor Myers’ questions without having the names of the persons concerned and initiating inquiries in Greece. However, he may refer to a group of eleven persons who were executed in Greece on February 21. According to our information they were convicted in 1945 of killing 100 civilians during the Communist uprising of December 1944, one of the group having confessed to killing thirty personally with an axe. They could not, therefore, be considered “political prisoners” and were not convicted for a political offense, such offenses having been amnestied by the Varkiza Agreement of February 12, 1945.2
In connection with recent executions the Greek Under-Secretary of State for Press and Information made the following statement:
“It should be noted, however, that all these prisoners who were executed had been tried beforehand with all the guarantees of legal procedure [Page 75] by regularly established criminal courts and found guilty of many murders, mainly of innocent civilians, during the Communist rebellion on December 1944. The crimes they committed were so atrocious that the Varkiza Agreement excluded them from amnesty, while the then (1945) Minister of Foreign Affairs and Government representative Mr. John Sofianopoulos who signed the above agreement, categorically stated that it would be impossible for those guilty of such crimes to be covered by amnesty.
“It cannot, moreover, be reasonably maintained that these prisoners were executed in the heat of anti-Communist hysteria. The delay of their execution cannot in any way be construed as an unfavorable condition at their expense. On the contrary, during the period that elapsed from the time they were convicted until their execution, they had every opportunity and took advantage of all possible means in their favor, provided by the laws of this country, such as the appeal to the Supreme Court and to the Council of Pardons. After an appeal to the Council of Pardons is rejected, the carrying out of the execution becomes obligatory for the Public Prosecutor of the Court of Appeal, who in this case acts ex officio. Such legal procedure requires a period of delay, provided by the law itself, which must be observed before execution can take place, if democratic guarantees are to be valid.”
It is our understanding that there are approximately 300 prisoners in Greece under sentence of death for common law crimes committed during the Communist uprising of 1944–45 or during the wartime occupation of Greece. It is quite possible that among them are some individuals who were originally arrested by the occupation authorities or by the Greek authorities under the occupation. However, it is not customary after liberation of a country from enemy occupation to grant pardons to common law offenders whose guilt is subsequently judicially established by regular courts of the country in question. Reports reaching the Department indicate, nevertheless, that certain groups and individuals in Greece, including many Communists, have, during and since the occupation, consistently endeavored to escape responsibility for non-political crimes, raising the unjustified cry of political persecution.
Professor Myers’ concern is understandable, but the implication in his question that there is any bond of sympathy between the present Greek Government and the former Nazi regime or any similarity in their judicial methods is wholly unwarranted. Greece is in fact the only nation in eastern Europe today which, in both its political and judicial life, respects and endeavors to practice democracy as the American people understand it.
Sincerely yours,
Counselor
- Not printed.↩
- Signed by the Greek Government and the EAM (National Liberation Front), a resistance group controlled by the Greek Communist Party; for text, see Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. viii, p. 109.↩