Evening star., 1960-08-18
Red Attorney Defending U-2 Pilot
Hopes Court Will Show Leniency


Mountain area from his dam
aged plane.
The witnesses testified that
they heard a loud explosion or
the morning of May /. saw a
parachute descending and ran
toward it.
Only after they helped Pow
erS out Of his parachute and
helmet did they discover he
was a foreigner, they said.
They said he carried a long
barreled pistol and what the
Russians described as IAN Eng
liSh knife" in America called
a hunting knife. They took him
to the nearest village and
turned him over to the local
security police.
Thanks Set or Laughter
P. E. Asabin, identified in
court as an invalid, said he
jumped off the roof of a house
where he was working and ran
to the pilot. He helped him
debate his parachute. When
Mr.. ASabin completed his testi-
mony, Powers was asked by the
court if he had any questions
to ask him.
mo questions" he said. His
statements are true, and 1 want
to thank him for what he did
there"
Such loud laughter broke out
that the court had to call for
silence. Presumably the audi
ence was laughing at the idea
OF Powers thanking his captor.
Powers had brought out in his
testimony earlier that 1t would
have almost been impossible to
debate the parachute without
assistance and that it was def
nltely impossible for him to
remove his helmet without aid,
Testimony by experts followed
and Powers challenged about
identification marks on the
plane.
Another expert witness, Prof
Gleb 1stomin. reported that the
U-2, using its wide-angle. "73-B
type camera and the stock of
MIN aboard, was equipped to
photograph a stretch of terri
tory almost l25 miles wide and
more than 1000 miles long.
Prof. 1stomin stressed that
the camera took relatively
large-scale photos from high
altitude and met the require
ments OF Photographic intel
llgence. He said the scale of
the photos made May was
large enough to determine the
purpose Of most of the indus
trial and military detectives
Powers camera, the expert
continued. began photograph
ing west Of Tashkent, which is
some 200 miles northwest of
the Afghanistan border. and
continued along the route to
Sverdlovsk. 1000 miles farther
to the northwest.
Prof. Istomin said the photos
taken from an altitude of near
ly $1,000 feet, showed large
populated areas, industrial and
military objectives, airports,
antiaircraft facilities and de-
pots.
Expert Witnesses Heard
A long series of expert wit
nesses testified with the obvi-
GUS objective of knocking down
Powers efforts to prove he was
not a spy but just the pilot of
a plane equipped for intelli-
gence work.
Through much of this testi-
mony Powers sat with his arms
folded. Once he took a long
look at the box where his wife
sat. He made no gesture and
his facial expression was un-
changed.
1t. Col. N. A. Alekseyev tes-
tilted that markings on a map
made by Powers contained in
formation Of a strictly intelli-
gence nature and not weather
data as the pilot once said.
Several tables loaded with
exhibits were brought in.
They included a .22-caliber
pistol with a silencer on the
barrel. several boxes of cart
ridges, field glasses. a small
saw, dials. lenses. tape recorder
reels and several pieces of
crumpled metal.
Col. Alekseyev said docu-
ments found on Powers con
that the pilot was all
employe of the United States
Air Force and that the plane
was making a flight premedi-
tated and planned in advance.
1t. Col. Rostilav Andreyev,
another investigator, testified
the U-2's radio equipment bore
the initials M. P, for military
procurement"
This" he said, shows that
the equipment is the property
Of the U. S. Defense Depart
ment and is classified as top
secret"