§ Mr. Speirasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many British subjects have been prosecuted for criminal offences in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the past 10 years to the nearest convenient date ; how many were convicted ; and what were their sentences.
§ Mr. NuttingSix British subjects are known to have been prosecuted for criminal offences in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the past 10 years. Of these, four were convicted. The remaining two (who were members of the subordinate staff of Her Majesty's Embassy) were granted exit visas by the Soviet authorities after they had appeared before an examining magistrate and the 9W preliminary investigation of their cases had been completed. Of the four who were convicted, one (a member of the subordinate staff of Her Majesty's Embassy) was tried in absentia and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and a fine of 6,000 roubles. He remained within the confines of that Embassy from 1948 to 1953, when the Soviet authorities agreed to apply to his case the provisions of an amnesty which was contained in a Decree of the Supreme Soviet of 28th March, 1953. The three others who were convicted were merchant seamen who were sentenced to one year's imprisonment each. Two of them had their sentences commuted to expulsion from the Soviet Union, and the third was released after six months under the terms of the amnesty contained in the Supreme Soviet's Decree of 28th March, 1953.
On some occasions, the Soviet authorities have failed to notify the Embassy of arrests of British subjects. It therefore cannot be excluded that other British subjects may have been prosecuted and convicted for criminal offences without the knowledge of Her Majesty's Government.