The Press: Report on Oatis?

The Prague Communist radio announced last week that A. P. Correspondent Bill Oatis, imprisoned last July on a trumped-up spy charge (TIME, July 16), was in court again last week. This time, said the Reds, he testified against twelve spies connected with "the American espionage group in the Associated Press office." While he was testifying, the Reds claimed, Oatis again confessed that he himself had been a spy when he was A. P. bureau chief in Prague. As expected, all twelve were convicted; one was sentenced to death, another to life imprisonment and the rest got long prison terms. In their latest attempt to justify Oatis' imprisonment, the Reds played it safe. Not a single Western newsman or diplomat was allowed into the courtroom, and no one, other than the Communists, knew whether Oatis was even there, much less what he said.