On May 21st, 1915, the Austro-Hungarian Commandant-in-Chief, Archduke Frederick, ordered the Czech deputy, Charles Kramář, the leader of the Young Czechs, to be arrested. He was brought with his colleague, Deputy Rašín, and two other friends, Červinka and Zamazal, before the military court, on the charge of high treason. After more than six months' remand the trial was opened. To the surprise and indignation of all, Kramář and his three friends were condemned to death, though no incriminating proofs were produced. It caused a great scandal everywhere, Austria-Hungary not excepted. Kramář made an appeal, but the High Tribunal confirmed the sentence. Nevertheless Austria was afraid to execute the condemned, and, wishing to finish an affair which had produced so much indignation everywhere, she tried to clear it up by a manoeuvre which at the same time would intimidate the rebellious Czechs and bring them to their knees.
The Premier actually proposed to the Emperor to pardon the four Czechs sentenced to death, but also to make an example of them for the Czech nation. The sentence on Dr Kramář was commuted to fifteen years, that of Rašín to ten years, and that of the journalists Červinka and Zamazal to six years' penal servitude. In addition, the two deputies Kramář and Rašín were deprived
