LAVAL HELD IN SPANISH PRISON
Suite at Ritz Reserved for Collaborationist
By Charles S. Foltz
Montjuich Citadel, Spain (AP)
Pierre Laval, Vichy’s former chief of government, who sought refuge in Spain, listened to the «Voice of America» broadcast in French Thurday for outside news in this stone military prison 600 feet above Barcelona harbor.
I saw him enter the fortress in an American automobile which brought him from the airport where he landed in a German bomber at noon Wednesday. He surveyed impassively the massive walls of the prison where he was brought to await disposition by the allies at American demand.
Furniture Moved
The car, belonging to Barcelona’s civil governor, took him into the citadel. There the manager of Barcelona’s Ritz hotel inspected the beds and furniture and prepared food, all brought to the prison from his hotel. This grim fortress is not famed for such luxuries.
Laval did not expect to be treated as a prisoner. A suite at the Ritz is still reserved for him and his wife. A protest by American Consul General David M. Key on behalf of the embassy, blocked Laval’s request to go to the Ritz to rest before his imprisonment at Montjuich.
The French collaborationist chief and four companions are housed in separate pavilions in the citadel. The first thing Laval requested was a radio and the first broadcast he heard was the «Voice of America» in French.
Talks to Governor
With Laval until 3 a. m. was Barcelona’s Falangist civil governor, Antonio Correa Veglisson, who met the former premier at the airport.
The troops of Montjuich garrison, acting under orders from Madrid, kept close guard on Laval. This correspondent was refused permission to approach him.
Laval expressed fears to Spaniards that he would be taken to France to be judged.
The commander of the fortress, Lt. Col. Sebastian Gomila, said he was not interested in politics and was only obeying the orders of the Madrid government to keep Laval incommunicado.