Death Before the Verdict

For 15 months Leon Nicolaas Jungschlaeger sat on trial for his life in a steaming Djakarta courtroom, in a case that came to symbolize and then to widen the bitter gulf between the young Republic of Indonesia and its former Dutch masters. As head of Dutch military intelligence in Indonesia, Jungschlaeger had helped put down the bloody 1947-49 rebellion; when he later returned to Indonesia as a private citizen, he was arrested on a charge of subversion. The prosecutor demanded the death penalty, and since the trial violated all the standards of courtroom justice, Leon Jungschlaeger seemed sure to get it. He was scheduled to hear his fate this week.

Instead, Jungschlaeger, weighing 40 Ibs. less than he had at the time of his arrest, complained of feeling ill and was taken to a Dutch hospital, suffering from hypertension. Last week, after two swift cerebral hemorrhages, he died in the presence of his wife, a priest, and two armed guards who had watched him day and night. The Dutch Parliament in The Hague stood in silence in honor of his death, and Queen Juliana sent Mrs. Jungschlaeger her personal condolences. Jungschlaeger's prosecutor was clearly disappointed by the turn of events. "A vexing development," he called it.

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