Eighty years ago a traitor to Britain commits judicial suicide

 

The trial for treason of John Amery took place and lasted a mere eight minutes. He was the son of senior Conservative politician Leo Amery but had gone from being the black sheep of the family to defecting to Nazi Germany where he recruited for the SS British unit and made propaganda broadcasts. He had been arrested in Italy by British troops including Alan Whicker, later famous as a journalist. Attempts to present him as mentally ill and unfit to plead or as a Spanish citizen had failed. Amery pled guilty, which was tantamount to suicide as the only penalty for the offence was death. He was duly sentenced to be hanged.

Yugoslavia was declared a republic by the communist dominated Constituent Assembly. The monarchy was abolished permanently. The now ex-king protested feebly but the British government, which had been the chief backer of Tito's partisan movement during the Axis occupation and de facto civil war,  accepted the assembly's decision with only the faintest qualification.

Albania voted for its own Constituent Assembly. The communists under Enver Hoxha won all 92 seats with 93% of the vote. As the only force which had consistently opposed Axis occupation the communists were genuinely popular although the handful of political opponents were intimidated.