Evening star., 1953-12-24
Beria Executed
With 6of Aides
For Treason
Soviet Secret Police
Boss Convicted in
Five-Duy TriuI
BY the Associoted Press

MOSCOW, Dec. 24.-The So
Wet Union closed the books to-
day on Lavrenti P. Beria. The
government announced that the
longtime boss of the secret po-
lice (MVD) and six of his hench-
men were shot by a firing squad
yesterday after a secret five-day
trial. The Soviet Supreme Court
found them guilty of high trea-
son.
Beria, 81, held the Soviet
Unions highest honors and had
been elevated to the No. 2 Krem-
lin post of first deputy premier
and interior minister after Josef
Stain died nine months ago.
Three months later. in June,
Premier Georgi Malenkov's gov
ernment arrested him and de-
nounced him as a traitor to the
state and communism.
The execution announcement
today was the first disclosure
that Beria's trial had been going
on since Friday behind locked
doors.
KOnev Heads Tribunal.
The hearing opened two days
after the Soviet press published
indictments against Beria and
announced the names of the six
other defendants. The papers at
the same time started blasting
the seven as the vilest kind of
betrayers and reported that mass
meetings throughout the country
were unanimously calling for
their deaths.
Qn past cases of executed
traitors, the bodies have been
cremated and disposed of
without further announce
ment.)
The eight-man tribunal, un-
der Marshal Ivan S. Konev, a
World War II hero, passed SEN
tence after "the guilt of all the
accused was completely proved
in court by the evidence and
also by oral and written confess
sions," the government news
paper lzvestia said.
The official announcement
said Beria and those who had
conspired with him tried ito put
the ministry of internal affairs
above the party and the govern
ment for the purpose of seizing
power" and aimed "for restorH-
ton of capitalism"
Traced Back to 1919.
AS early as 1919 Beria "occu-
pied the post of secret agent" in
Azerbaijan, acting with groups
under the control of British in
telligence organs" the an
nouncement said. It added:
I'm the following years up to
his arrest, L. P. Beria continued
and extended his secret connec-
tions with foreign intelligence
services"
After Beria became interior
minister. the announcement con-
tinued, he promoted his group of
plotters in the MVD, tried to SOW
hatred between the people of the
Russian republic and other So
Wet groups and sabotaged meas
ureS aimed at raising the ma
tion's living standards. In addi-
ton, 1t was charged, Beria and
his accomplices committed ter
roriSt acts against the people
whom they feared would expose
them"
Personal Property Seized.
Personal property of the exc
cuted men was confiscated and
they were stripped of all mill
tary titles and awards. These
included Beria's Order of Lenin
the Soviet governments high
est award-and his military rank
of marshal of the Soviet Union.
This was the highest possible
rank below Stain.
Shot along with Beria were
Usevolod Merkulov, minister of
state control; v. G. Dekanazov,
secret police chief in Stalin's
and Beria's home state of
Georgia; D. z. Kobulov, ex-dep-
uty minister of internal affairs;
S. A. Goglidze, internal affairs
chief of the Soviet Far East;
P. Y. Meshik, internal affairs
minister in the Ukrains, and
L. E. Vlodzimirsky, internal af-
fairs Investigations chief.
Beria had been in police work
ever since the Bolsheviks came
to power. In the early days he
was a powerful figure in the
TranscaucasuS, which includes
the republics of Azerbaijan, Ar
menia and Georgia. He was
made a full member of the
Communist Party Politburo after
World War II.