§ SIR FREDERICK PERKINSasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the Government have received any information confirmative of the truth of the account of an atrocity which was described in the "Standard" of March 2nd:— 759
Intelligence has been received here (Paris) of the hanging of several alleged Polish doctors at Sofia when the Russians occupied that town. The victims were residents of Cracow, and Austrian subjects, being natives of Galicia. They bore Polish names, and had, like many medical men in England, joined the Turkish medical staff. When the Russians entered the town these gentlemen, in defiance of the Convention of Geneva, were arrested, tried by a drumhead court martial, and hanged before the troops. I can assure you that this is no fiction. The men were hanged solely and simply because their names were Polish and they spoke the language. General Gourko ordered the execution.
§ MR. BOURKEI answered a Question upon this subject a few days ago, and I have no reason to believe that the Answer I then gave was in any way inaccurate. I have nothing to add to the information I gave to the House at that time. Rumours upon the subject have reached Her Majesty's Government; but we have not sufficient evidence to justify me in making any statement to the House.