§ 24. Mr. Norman Bowerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under what agreement Karl Walter, a refugee from the Soviet zone of Germany, has been sentenced to one month's imprisonment without trial at Homburg for having refused a Soviet direction to work in the uranium mines at Aue.
Mr. McNeilThis man was arrested by the German authorities in the British zone in accordance with an old German Procedural Law providing that sentences of imprisonment imposed by an authority in one part of Germany can, at the request of that authority, be carried out by the authorities in any other area to which the convicted person may have fled. Normally nowadays German courts are left without interference to deal with German citizens. In this case, however, we felt that an injustice was being done and as a result of our representations the man was released on 31st January.