Death Sentence

Death Sentence on Russian Terrorists: International Incident

In the book “International Incidents for Discussion in Conversation Classes”, in relation to this subject, L. Oppenheim wrote in 1909: The following appeared in the Times of Feb. 29th, 1908:

“St Petersburg, Feb. 27.

“A Court-martial sitting in the fortress of St Peter and St Paul to-day tried the Terrorists who were recently arrested. Seven, including two women and the Italian Calvino, were condemned to death.

“Rome, Feb. 28.

“A most painful impression has been created throughout Italy by the confirmation to-day of the report that a young Italian journalist, Mario Calvino, has been condemned to death by Court-martial in St Petersburg. All that is known is that Calvino was arrested on a charge of complicity in a plot for the assassination of the Grand Duke Nicholas, that he was condemned with a batch of six other prisoners after a very brief trial held within closed doors, and that he will be hanged next Saturday. Many friends and colleagues of Calvino in Italy, as well as in Russia, assert the impossibility of his complicity in a Nihilist plot, and there prevails a general belief that his condemnation has been due to a judicial error. In answer to representations made to Signor Tittoni from Milan, the Foreign Minister has stated that the Italian Ambassador at St Petersburg has received instructions to do his utmost on behalf of the condemned man. Up to the present moment it would appear that no result of his exertions has yet been reported.”