Evening star., 1949-02-21
"A D. {. Jurisfs Back
Truman Denunciation
OF Mindszenty Trial

President Truman's charge that
Josef Cardinal Mindszenty was
the victim of kangaroo court"
in Hungary had the support of
"A Washington jurists and law
school deans today.
They joined in a public state
-ment denouncing the trial and
sentencing of the prelate to life
imprisonment as "a brazen at
tempt by the Communist Party to
prostitute the judicial process" to
gain totalitarian control of Hun
gary, destroy religious freedom
and discredit the United States.
So-called evidence brought
against the cardinal at the trial
never would have stood up in a
free court of justice, the state
,ment declared.
No Constitutional Law.
1T should be observed that the
reported plea of guilty or partly
guilty by Cardinal Mindszenty. as
reported in the press. did not
mean an admission Of criminal
guilt as would have been the case
under Anglo-American law" the
statement noted.
Since the Communist Party re-
CARDS itself as the Hungarian
state. there can be no constitu-
tional law so that any opposition
to the Communist Party, however
reasonable, becomes punishable as
criminal"
The statement refuted specific
charges against Cardinal Minds
,zenty. 1t recalled that on June
81, 1947, he was seen by thousands
of people in Ottawa. Canada, and
did not meet Otto Won Hapsburg
in Chicago, as charged. to conspire
for federated central European
kingdom" with United States aid.
Another attack on the trial Of
Cardinal Mindszenty as we'll as
the pending trial of group of
Protestant clergymen in Bulgaria
came last night from Senator
Tydings, Democrat. of Maryland.
In a broadcast from Baltimore.
he said he had never been able
to understand how any man.
endowed with even a modicum of
intelligence, a shred Circumstance
or a tiny spark of the love of
liberty, could voluntarily join an
organization which had for its
purpose the substitution of slav-
cry under Communism for free
dom under democracy"
Signers Listed.
Signers of the statement issued
here last night were Thurman
Arnold, former United States
Court of Appeals judge; Maj. Gen.
Myron c. Cramer, retired, former
judge advocate general and men,
Der of the International Military
Tribunal for the Far East: Joseph
3. keenan,, former United States
chief prosecutor at the japanese
war criminal trials: Hugh J.
Fegan, dean of Georgetown Uni
versity Law School; Charles j.
Fahy. former Solicitor General;
William C. Van Week. former dean
of George Washington University
Law School; Horatio r. Rogers.
dean of the Washington College
of Law: Mary Frances Glenn.
president of the District Women's
Bar Association.
Vladimir Gsovski.. head of the
foreign law section of the Con-
gressional Library; Milton W.
King, former president of the Dis
trict Bar Association; James y.
Hayden. dean of Columbus Uni
versity Law School; William E.
feahy, president of Columbus Uni
Yersity Law School: William H.
Collins, former assistant United
States attorney. and Brendan r.
Brown, head of the Catholic Uni
versity School Of Law.
. The statement described Cardi-
nal Mindszenty as "a martyr to
the cause of justice under the law
of right reason as administered by
men Of good will" 1t declared the