Australia's Spy Drama
KRYGIER, RICHARD
By Richard Krygier AUSTRALIA'S SPY DRAMA Individuals' rights are safeguarded in Petrov hearings Melbourne The Petrov inquiry now under way in this city should be of vital interest to...
...Though the Commissioners will not sit in judgment on anyone, they enjoy very considerable powers under Australian law...
...One thing seems certain: The Australian spy case will furnish no opportunity for outraged cries of "ordeal by slander...
...Guilty persons will not be shielded, of course, but the Counsel and Commission Chairman agreed that it might well be more important to uncover Soviet espionage methods than to expose individuals...
...Aiding the judges are the Queen's Counsel, Mr...
...The hearings are being held before a Royal Commission made up of three judges from the supreme courts of the various Australian states...
...including several enactments specially drawn up to facilitate these proceedings...
...Petrov's duties included general supervision of espionage, recruiting agents, spying on Embassy staff members, watching immigrants from behind the Iron Curtain, and organizing a fifth-column network for use in case of war...
...20 mentioned in a manner that seems to warrant "further inquiries...
...It is true that no evidence given under protest before a Royal Commission may be used in court to obtain a criminal conviction, but the power to force an answer to any question (including self-incriminating ones) gives the Commission every opportunity to get at the full truth...
...Espionage was directed primarily at gathering political, rather than scientific or military, information...
...According to the Counsel, some 90 individuals will be involved in the hearings...
...Prison sentences can be imposed on those guilty of contempt...
...At a time when "witch-hunting" is a burning issue in the United States and demagogues are building careers by sullying the reputations of innocent people, Australia is showing how to root out Communist espionage and subversion without violating the traditions of Anglo-Saxon justice...
...and a dozen not mentioned in the documents who have had past dealings with Petrov...
...One of the highlights of the preliminary hearings concerned some curious documents detailing the financial circumstances and sexual and other weaknesses of a number of prominent Australians...
...Agents, who were sought among Soviet sympathizers rather than known Communists...
...The Chairman summed up by saying: "Our primary task is to find out facts, and in the course of finding out those facts we will use our best endeavors to insure that persons' names are not made public in such a way that they may be bandied about for an unreasonably long time before those persons will be in the witness box...
...Describing them as "a farrago of facts, falsities and filth," Windeyer announced that they were "written by an Australian Communist in the Russian Embassy...
...were recruited by means of "conversion, compromise and corruption...
...These fall into the following categories: 30 who are working for Moscow and are given code names in the Soviet documents produced by Petrov...
...large amounts of money were rarely involved...
...Where the facts lead and whom the truth may hurt, we feel, is not our concern...
...Petrov's decision to remain in Australia...
...And I will show who he was...
...After Beria's death, he declared, Petrov realized that he was probably in disfavor with the regime...
...He told the story of how Petrov "chose freedom," then recounted the drama of Mrs...
...We shall, however, endeavor to avoid saying anything which could be used by the malicious to smear anyone's reputation...
...Counsel Windeyer started by outlining the basic facts to the Commissioners...
...The part to be played by the three counsel was clearly defined by Windeyer in his opening address at the preliminary hearings: "We do not appear here to attack or to shield or to defend anyone...
...The current investigation was called to hear testimony by the Soviet defector, Vladimir Petrov, former MVD chief in the Russian Embassy in Canberra, as well as his wife and other persons with relevant information to offer...
...The preliminary hearings in the Petrov case, which I attended, lasted three days in Canberra and a few hours in Sydney...
...By Richard Krygier AUSTRALIA'S SPY DRAMA Individuals' rights are safeguarded in Petrov hearings Melbourne The Petrov inquiry now under way in this city should be of vital interest to Americans...
...30 who are mentioned in the documents in such a way as to indicate Soviet interest in them as actual or potential sources of information...
...Windeyer, and two assistants...
...we are appearing only to assist Your Honors to ascertain the truth...
...In order to protect the reputations of these 90 persons against unfair publicity, the Commissioners decided that witnesses should be told in open court what was known about them so that they could answer any accusations as soon as possible after their names were brought up...
...knowing that he was scheduled to return home shortly, he decided to make the break...
...Windeyer then proceeded to describe the MVD setup in Australia, in which the TASS correspondent played a major role...
...They can, for example, compel anyone to appear and give evidence...
Vol. 37 • July 1954 • No. 28
