The trial of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, pro-Fascist leader of Rumania’s proscribed Iron Guard on charges of treason, espionage and rebellion drew to a close today when the prosecution read a formal summation and demanded strict application of the law to the accused. This demand may result in a prison term as high as 25 years.
Codreanu declared in court that he “always was certain that God would prove my innocence in this very place” as the defense tried to prove that the draft of two letters allegedly dispatched to Chancellor Adolf Hitler by Codreanu were not in his handwriting .
One of the letters found among Codreanu’s papers congratulate Hitler over Austro-German Anschluss and another predicts an imminent coup designed to transform Rumania into a Nazi state. It was not known whether the court would submit the documents to handwriting experts or not.
The summation of the proceedings followed the hearing of all witnesses. The prosecution demanding strict application of the law accused Codreanu of treason, disturbing the peace, detention of documents on national defense, and receipt of important funds from “a mysterious foreign source.” The prosecutor pointed out that Codreanu was not of Rumanian origin and had been a persistent agitator.
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