Treason
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In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to one's nation. A person who betrays the nation of their citizenship and/or reneges on an oath of loyalty and in some way willfully cooperates with an enemy, is considered to be a traitor. Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as: "...[a]...citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation]."
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History of Treason
United Kingdom
The English law of treason is entirely statutory and has been so since the Treason Act 1351 (25 Edw. 3 St. 5) c. 2, which is unusual for English Criminal Law, although originally the act provided for a reference to the King in Parliament to determine whether a new situation was or was not treason. Since that date the offence has been both widened, and narrowed by further statutes.
The Treason Act 1351 distinguishes two varieties of treason: high treason and petty treason. The distinction being the consequences of being convicted: for a high treason, not only was the penalty death but the traitor's property would escheat to the Crown; in the case of a petty treason property escheated only to the traitor's immediate Lord.
Petty treason was the murder of one's lawful superior: that is if a servant kills his master, a wife her husband or anyone their prelate. High treason covered acts that constituted a serious threat to the stability or continuity of the state, including attempts to kill the king, to counterfeit coins or to wage war against the kingdom.
An 18th century law defines four basic types of high treason:
- When a man doth compass or imagine the death of our lord the king, of our lady his queen, or of their eldest son and heir
- If a man do rape the king's companion, or the king's eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the king's eldest son and heir
- If a man do levy war against our lord the king in his realm
- If a man be adherent to the king's enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm, or elsewhere.
The punishment for treason was an often extended and especially cruel death which was often used to suppress any resistance to government policy and indeed it was not properly reformed until the 19th century, prior to this (in theory) any method could be used to carry out the death penalty, most popularly in the middle-ages hanging, drawing and quartering. In the United Kingdom treason was still theoretically punishable by death until 1998, although the last death sentence for treason was given in 1945, and this last hanging carried out in 1946). The death penalty for treason was abolished in the United Kingdom by the assent of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. (Go to see also for details of the abolition of the death penalty.)
The United States
To avoid the abuses of the English law, treason was specifically defined in the United States Constitution. Article Three defines treason as only levying war against the United States or "in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort," and requires the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act or a confession in open court for conviction. This safeguard may not be foolproof since Congress could pass a statute creating treason-like offences with different names (such as sedition, bearing arms against the state, etc.) which do not require the testimony of two witnesses, and have a much wider definition than Article Three treason. For example, some well-known spies have generally been convicted of espionage rather than treason. In the United States Code the penalty ranges from "shall suffer death" to "shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."
In the history of the United States there have been fewer than forty federal prosecutions for treason and even fewer convictions. Several men were convicted of treason in connection with the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion but were pardoned by George Washington. The most famous treason trial, that of Aaron Burr in 1807, resulted in acquittal. Politically motivated attempts to convict opponents of the Jeffersonian Embargo Acts and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 all failed. Significantly, after the American Civil War, no person involved with the Confederate States of America was charged with treason, and only one major Confederate official, the commandant of the Andersonville prison, who was charged with war crimes, was charged with anything at all.
Several people generally thought of as traitors in the United States, such as the Walker Family, or Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were not prosecuted for treason per se, but rather for espionage.
Treason has become largely a wartime phenomenon in the 20th century, and the treason cases of World Wars One and Two were of minor significance. Most states have provisions in their constitutions or statutes similar to those in the U.S. Constitution. There have been only two successful prosecutions for treason on the state level, that of Thomas Dorr in Rhode Island and that of John Brown in Virginia.
In 1964, an author named John A. Stormer wrote a book considered a backstairs political classic and titled it None Dare Call It Treason—the book unexpectedly sold seven million copies with little or no advertising. It was revised and reissued by the original author in 1990. The title phrase comes from a 17th-century epigram by John Harington: "Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?/For if it prosper, none dare call it treason." Since its popularization by Stormer, it has been reused and paraphrased many times and has become part of popular culture.
List of persons convicted or accused by some of treason, by country
This list is by nature highly subjective, even for those convicted of treason. One person's traitor is another's patriot. In a civil war or insurrection the winners may deem the losers traitors. Some countries, such as the U.S., have a high constitutional hurdle to conviction for treason, while historically in many countries, especially monarchies and dictatorships, anyone who disagrees with or disappoints the ruler, or even consorts with those who do, may be deemed traitors.
Armenia
- Vasak Siuni, Lord Prince of Siunik (? - 452 AD), conspired with Persian rulers of Armenia to introduce Zoroastrian faith to Armenia. Betrayed leaders of the Armenian uprising of Vardan Mamikonian to Persian King of Kings Yazgederd.
- Meruzhan Artzruni, Lord Prince of Vaspurakan (? - 369 AD), conspired with Persian King Shapuh II against his liege lord, Armenian King Arshak II, and betrayed the latter to the Persians. Was captured by Arshak's son King Pap and executed.
Canada
- FLQ Members, a militant Quebec separatist group
- Louis Riel, Métis leader who opposed Canada's expansion into the west. (This is subject to some controversy).
China
- Zou Fohai
- Chen Gongbo
- Wang Jingwei
- Kawashima Yoshiko, accused of spying for the Japanese
France
- Joseph Darnand, leader of the Vichy French Milice.
- The Charlemagne Division, French volunteers in the Wehrmacht and later Waffen-SS.
- Alfred Dreyfus, Jewish army officer, wrongfully convicted of treason, then pardoned. He was later exonerated and returned to service with honors.
- Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
- Pierre Laval, prime minister of Vichy France.
- Henri Philippe Pétain
- Marie Antoinette
- Louis XVI
Israel
- Mordechai Vanunu revealed Israeli nuclear weapons to the world, 1986, not to help any other particular country. Eighteen years in prison, since his release he as been rearrested.
- Shabtai Kalmanovitch, spied for Soviet Union
- Avraham Marcus Klingberg, worked for top-secret Biological Institute in Nes Tsiona, spied for Soviet Union
Netherlands
Norway
- Vidkun Quisling, Minister President of Nazi-occupied Norway during World War II. The word "quisling" now means "traitor".
- Knut Hamsun Norwegian Nobel Prize winning writer, convicted of treason for supporting the Nazis
- Arne Treholt Norwegian diplomat, turned by the KGB
Soviet Union
- Andrei Vlasov, a Soviet Army General who later worked for the Germans during World War II.
- General Dmitri Fedorovich Polyakov sold secrets to USA, out of hatred for "corrupt" Soviet system, although loved his country
- Oleg Penkovsky
- Pyotr Popov
- Vitaliy Yurchenko, KGB defector to USA; but then reverted to USSR. Not clear whose side he was on.
- Lieutenant Colonel Boris Yuzhin KGB, worked for FBI after experiencing freedom in the west
- KGB Lieutenant Colonel Valery Martynov , resource in place for USA
- KGB Major Sergei Motorin recruited by FBI
- Viktor Gundarev KGB, defected to USA, 1986
- Sergei Bokhan GRU recruited by CIA
- Adolf Tolkachev, worked with CIA, executed 1986
- Leonid Poleschuk KGB, worked for CIA
- Gennady Varenik KGB, worked for CIA
- Gennady Smetanin KGB
- (reference for most of the above, Shannon, page 111 etc)
United Kingdom
- John Amery, who made recruitment efforts and propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany.
- Norman Baillie-Stewart, who was charged with passing information to the Nazi government in Germany.
- Anne Boleyn
- The British Free Corps, whose members fought for the Nazis against their country
- Henry Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham, who was implicated in the Main Plot against the rule of James I of England.
- The Cambridge Five, a spy ring. Harold 'Kim' Philby (British Intelligence), Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross, spied for Soviet Union
- King Charles I
- Guy Fawkes, tried to blow up Parliament
- Klaus Fuchs - German-born British subject who gave atomic bomb secrets to the Soviets
- George Blake agent who worked for Soviets
- The Jacobites
- William Joyce, alias "Lord Haw-Haw", a fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during World War II.
- Queen Mary I
- Thomas More
- Thomas Paine
- Frank Bossard British guided missile researcher recruited by the GRU
- Chidiock Tichborne
- William Wallace
- George Washington revolutionary anti-colonial militia leader
United States
- Anthony Cramer
- Benedict Arnold. Plotted to help Britain during the Revolutionary War.
- The Saint Patrick's Battalion, Irish-Americans who fought for Mexico in the Mexican-American War.
- Governor Thomas Dorr 1844, convicted of treason against the state of Rhode Island; see Dorr Rebellion
- Jefferson Davis, Confederate President
- Robert E. Lee; Commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia
- Max Haupt
- Tomoya Kawakita
- Velvalee Dickinson
- Tyler Kent, communications to Soviet Union, convicted 1941
- Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who is frequently identified with "Tokyo Rose".
- Alger Hiss, State Department official, sold secrets to Soviet Union
- Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, atomic bomb secrets to Soviet Union
- Fritz Kuhn, Nazi, held in internment camp, deported after world war II
- Ezra Pound, brought back from Italy to face charge of treason for supporting Mussolini, declared insane and thus untryable
- Jane Fonda; helped by visiting the North Vietnamese Communists against her country, although never tried for treason.
- Nelson C. Drummond, Navy, worked for GRU
- US Army Sergeant Jack Dunlap NSA courier, worked for GRU
- US Air Force Sergeant Herbert W. Boeckenhaupt sold secrets of Strategic Air Command to GRU
- Christopher Boyce, Andrew Daulton Lee arrested for selling secrets to Soviets
- David Barnett, CIA, arrested 1980
- Richard Miller FBI agent, arrested 1983
- Edward Lee Howard, CIA, defected USSR 1985
- Ronald W. Pelton NSA communications specialist, revealed to Soviets that US submarines tapped Soviet undersea cables
- Jonathan Pollard US Naval Investigative Service, and wife Anna, spying for Israel
- Larry Wu-Tai Chin, CIA, spied for China for 3 decades
- Harold Nicholson CIA, arrested 1996
- Earl Edwin Pitts, FBI, arrested 1996, secrets to Soviets
- Aldrich Ames, CIA, and his wife sold secrets to Soviets
- Robert Hanssen FBI counterintelligence agent, who sold top secrets to the Soviet Union for two decades
- John Anthony Walker, a Soviet spy active during the Cold War; also some family members, Michael Walker
- John Walker Lindh, young Californian Muslim, joined the Afghani Taliban, although before September 11, 2001; accepted a plea bargain, 20 years in prison and a gag order lasting that long. He was not convicted of treason.
- Iyman Faris, a former Ohio truck driver who was plotting with Al-Qaeda to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge.
- Timothy McVeigh, charged with the Oklahoma City Bombing, said to be the worst act of Domestic Terrorism in the United States.
- Ronald Grecula, on May 23, 2005, was arrested in the United States as an American citizen who was working with Al-Qaeda to build a bomb and deliver it to them.
Other
- Ephialtes, who betrayed the Spartan king Leonidas at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.
- Brutus helped assassinate Julius Caesar, his best friend (a personal betrayal as well)
- Cassius, also a plotter against Julius Caesar
- Judas Iscariot, a disciple of Jesus (not really treason; not against a country. But a famous betrayal.)
- Janusz Radziwiłł, 1612-1655
- Kotoku Shusui, Japanese anarchist, 20th century
- Ludwig Beck, Carl Goerdeler, Claus von Stauffenberg German, plotted against Hitler, attempted assassination; failed, meat-hooked for his trouble
See also
- List of secret agents, more cases that could be here
- Misprision of treason
- Capital punishment in the United Kingdom
- Capital punishment in the United States
Further reading
- Elaine Shannon and Ann Blackman, The Spy Next Door : The Extraordinary Secret Life of Robert Philip Hanssen, The Most Damaging FBI Agent in US History, Liittle Brown, 2002 ISBN 0-316-71821-1de:Hochverrat