HC Deb 14 March 1949 vol 462 cc1709-10
18. Mr. Warbey

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what advice the British police mission in Greece has given to the Greek authorities on the presentation of evidence by police witnesses in courts of law.

Mr. McNeil

The advice given is that when giving evidence the police should state accurately and impartially all the facts known to them.

Mr. Warbey

While thanking my right hon. Friend for that reply, may I ask whether, in view of the fact that in the recent trials of 34 Greek trade unionists and others numerous police witnesses gave purely hearsay evidence based on information supplied by anonymous informers, this is not a case for representing to the Greek authorities once again that these methods are not in accordance with Western democratic practice?

Mr. McNeil

I sympathise with the point that my hon. Friend is trying to make, but I should have thought that the law of evidence was a matter for the courts. We can concern ourselves only with the advice which we give to the Greek police.

Mr. Platts-Mills

Is my right hon. Friend aware that it was on such evidence as has just been characterised by my hon. Friend that on Friday Mr. Manolis Glezos, famous in the Greek resistance against the Nazis, was condemned to death in Athens?

Mr. Sydney Silverman

Does my right hon. Friend mean that where British subjects are tried in foreign courts we have no interest to see that the law administered by the courts is acceptable to us?

Mr. McNeil

I am indebted to my hon. Friend. Where a British subject, as in the recent case, is on trial, then, of course, we do make such representations as it is our duty to make upon the treatment given to the British subject.

Mr. Silverman

Can my right hon. Friend say whether the evidence which is the subject of this Question is evidence that formed part of the case against the young British girl who was sentenced to death a day or two ago?

Mr. McNeil

We are becoming a little involved. This Question does not concern the case to which my hon. Friend refers, but I should like to take this opportunity of saying that in that particular case, where we were represented, the president of the court more than once drew attention to the necessity of confining the witnesses to demonstrable evidence.

Mr. Driberg

That is very unusual there.