A judicial murder of peculiar infamy is apparently about to
be committed in Austria, if it has not already taken place. Dr. Kramarzh, the Czech leader in the Reichsrat, has been condemned (together with three other well-known Czechs) to be hanged after a trial for high treason lasting six months. Dr. Kramarzh has for many years worked in a perfectly constitutional, wise, and loyal manner to gain more political rights for the Slav elements in Austria- Hungary. He has naturally been an opponent of the domination by Germany and a strong pro-Russian. During his trial, as we learned in the Times some time ago, a copy of a letter to Prince Thun which he wrote before the war was produced and was used to support the charge of high treason. Prince Thun then laid the original letter before the Court, and proved that there was nothing whatever treasonable in it. The copy had been expanded and manipulated for the vile purposes of the prosecution. The truth, of course, is that the pro-German party, who are in the ascendant, found Dr. Kramarzh too strong and able an opponent to allow him to live. He must be condemned on any sort of evidence. In Austrian Courts they seem to specialize in forgery.
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