HC Deb 04 March 1949 vol 462 cc79-80W
Mr. Byers

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what are the charges preferred against Pastor Adalbert Knees, who was arrested at Bad Oeynhausen on 13th September, 1948, and is now in a military prison.

Mr. McNeil

On 8th October, 1948, the Control Commission Court at Bielefeld committed Pastor Knees for trial in the High Court charges of

  1. (a) conduct hostile and disrespectful to the Allied Forces (Military Government Ordinance No. 1, Article II, paragraph 41),
  2. (b) resisting arrest (Military Government Ordinance No. 1, Article II, paragraph 38) or alternatively
  3. (c) resisting the authority of the state (German Criminal Code, Section 113).
These charges arose out of a speech which he made at a public meeting at Bielefeld on 12th September, 1948, and his subsequent actions there. Pastor Knees has since been under observation in a public mental institution but it has now been established that he is fully responsible for his actions and his case will be in the list for the next assize which is due to begin on 21st March, 1949. The charges preferred against him will be as at (a) and (c) above.