Evening star., 1951-09-26

Czechs Restrict Reporting.
He complained that in the
United States it is being said Mr.
Oats was arrested and jailed un-
Justly for the normal activities of
a news reporter. A reporters nor
NAL activities differ in different
countries. he insisted.
| He pointed out that journalistic
activities are restricted in Czecho-
slovakia by a law defining as es-
Ipionage any effort to search
state secrets"
He read the Czech law defln-
i ing as a state secret everything
that in the vital interests of the
republic should remain Sc
cret.
The point is not whether those
provisions are severe, the Am
bassador insisted, but that they
do limit the activity of a re-
porter in our country"
He contended that as a SOW
ereign nation Czechoslovakia is
entitled to regulate the scope OF
a reporters activity as it pleases
Sentence Suspended.
When Mr.. Oats arrived ir
Czechoslovakia last year he should
have known that his work there
had to be in accordance with
Czech laws, Mr.. Prochazka said.
BY seeking and obtaining infor-
nation classified as state secrets
the Ambassador said Mr.. Oats
transgresSed his legitimate activ-
tiles as a reporter and became q
spy. He added that the secret
information alleged to have been
obtained was not published as a
rule but passed on to others.
According to our laws, Mr..
Oatis' sentence therefore was
just" he insisted. =,
Mr.. Prochazka said at the out
set of his news conference that he
found it necessary to explain
Czechoslovakia's position in the
Oats case because only one side
of his talks last month with Presi-
dent Truman and Secretary of
State Acheson had been reported
in the press here.
Complained About Policy.
The Ambassador presented his
credentials to President Truman
at the White House on August %
when the President told him that
relations between the United States
and Czechoslovakia were getting
worse because of the treatment of
Mr.. Oats.
Mr.. Prochazka said that he told
the President that American policy
toward CZechoslovakia had been
very unfriendly long before Mr..
Oats was arrested" He COM
planned of systematic policy OF
discrimination" in economic mat
ters since soon after World War II
Mr.. Prochazka said that in a
conference with Secretary of State
Acheson on August 90, Mr.. Ache
son also stressed the Oats impris-
.onment as "the main obstacle" in
United States-Czech relations.
Iif Insists Trial Was Fair.
Mr.. Oats, the Ambassador in
sisted, had fair trial in accord
ance with Czech laws, confessed,
and did not appeal his sentence
Thus "the base is closed from a
juridical point of view" he added
There is no way to consider the
American request for release OF
Mr.. Oats on its merits because
Of the way in which it has been
presented, the Ambassador de-
clared.
He complained:
l. Demands for Mr.. Oatis' free
dom are based on charges that his
trial was travesity on justice
This, the Ambassador said, disre-
CARDS the Czech court findings and
is interference in our internal af-
fairs which We reject"
2. The request is combined with
pressure of various 'kinds-threat
of a break in trade relations and
"an extensive press and propa-
ganda campaign"
Since Mr.. Oats imprisonment
Mr.. Prochazka said, the United
States has stepped up it's dis
elimination policy" and embarked
on other measures that would be
difficult to defend in an interna-
tional court"
He said the discrimination
against Czechoslovakia was an in
tegral part of an American policy
to restrict economic development
of Communist countries.
Four-POint Complaint.
To back up his charges of dis
elimination soon after World Waf
II the Ambassador said:
l. The United States did not
renew after the war 1888 re-
ciprocal trade agreement that was
invalidated by Nazi occupation of
Czechoslovakia.
2. In 1916 a loan for Czecho-
slovakia was Cancelled on orders of
former Secretary of State Byrnes.
8. Also in 1916, United States
pressure" forced rejection Of a
Czech request for loan from the
World Banks
4. Introduction of American ex-
port controls on March l. 1948,
marked the beginning by the
United States of "cold war in the
economic field against Eastern
Europe contrary to trade freedom
principles"
Mr.. Prochazka said that when