The Czecho-slovakian Ritual Murder Case: Not Ended Says Later Report Following Enquiries by Czecho-s

The ritual murder case at Velka-Berezna, in the province off Carpatho-Russia, has not yet come to an end, the report of the charge having been quashed appearing to have been based on a misunderstanding of a report from Velka-Berezna which obtained wide circulation throughout the country and has only now been cleared up. The newspapers and press agencies were all misled by the first report, and are only now publishing the correct versions. The misunderstanding seems to have arisen on the point that the two children, Helene Bogdan and Vasil Kosta, from whom the accused Jews, Liebermann and Steinberger, were charged with having drawn blood withdrew their story in court, saying that it was pure invention. The Public Prosecutor, instead of accepting their withdrawal, however, accused the Headmaster of their school, M. Pazuchanik, and the editor of the local Hungarian paper, M. Handelsmann, who have insisted throughout that the story was an invention, of having exercised pressure on the children as a result of which they had denied their previous story, and ordered proceedings to be taken against them for inducing the children to commit perjury.

The Czecho-Slovakian League of Human Rights has issued a statement that instead of having been quashed the ritual murder trial at Velka-Berezna has been turned into an even more scandalous affair than before, with the institution of proceedings against M. Pazuchanik and M. Handelsmann.

The League of Human Rights demands that the Central Government in Prague should intervene and put a stop to the irresponsible activities of the law officers of the province of Carpatho-Russia, which are disgracing the entire Republic.

The Minister of Justice, Dr. Meissner, who is himself a Jew, has received Deputy Ludwig Singer, the leader of the Jewish Party, and has told him that he is calling for the papers in the case, to study them with a view to taking action.