Foreign News: Letter to His Wife

The West last week struck a blow for A.P. Correspondent William Oatis, imprisoned in Czechoslovakia on charges of “espionage” (TIME, May 7). The U.S., Great Britain and France jointly prohibited Red Czechoslovakia’s airlines from flying over West Germany. The prohibition means that the Czech airlines will have to detour hundreds of miles to make their flights to

Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Cried a Czech spokesman: “Open discrimination against the Czechoslovak Republic!”

The Czech radio, meanwhile, broadcast a letter which Oatis was supposed to have written “freely” to his wife Laurabelle: “I am sure that you must be surprised that I have been arrested. In explanation, all I will tell you now is that I had been caught in espionage . . . When I got orders to carry out espionage, I fulfilled them valiantly. Today I know very well how I harmed the interests of the Czechoslovak nation, which honestly worked for world peace … I am ashamed … I share my grief only with you, dear . . .”

Commented the Czech radio: “[This letter] shows that W. Oatis is corresponding with his wife freely, and that if members of the U.S. Embassy in Prague are not able to speak with him, it is because he does not want to speak to them.”

Mrs. Oatis got the letter. Said she: “I don’t understand.”