Szatmári Est, 04.02.1914.

Background to film report:

Date:
1 February 1914

Location:
Courtyard of the prison, Máramarossziget

Event:
The two-month-long trial of the Ruthenians of Máramaros accused of treason started on 29 December 1913. 94 accused were brought before the Debrecen court set up in Máramarossziget. The accused were headed by Father Alexej, real name Sándor Kabalyuk, leader of the Máramaros pan-Russian movement, whose crime according to the charge sheet was to take Russian gold in exchange for converting Greek Catholic followers to the Orthodox Russian faith, not for religious purposes but instead to recruit the Ruthenians as spies for the Russian ruling house. His principal accomplices were György Vorobcsuk, Mihály Palkaninecz, Iván Babinecz and Jakab Borkányuk, and a young Ruthenian girl driven by religious fanaticism, Olena Hlusmányuk, who distributed Russian prayer books among the Ruthenians.

Kino-Riport footage:

“Original motion picture footage taken in the prison courtyard of the accused in the schism trial consisting of the following pictures: The official persons of the criminal case, Kabalyuk (father Alexi) and Alesza, Count Bobrinszky, among their followers. Fanatics of the great Russian movement etc. This sensational footage was recommended to us by János Frőlich, excellent staffer with Az Újság, with the following letter: ‘I have the honour to announce that I publish my sensational footage of the trial of those accused of treason in Máramarossziget in the Kino-Riport edition published on Monday 2 February. The 250-metre-long film covers every moment of the schism case, we have captured on film the official personalities appearing in the trial, all the prisoners and those accused who are on remand, including those who became fanatic followers of the great Russian ambitions. I shot my footage in the prison; we overcame those obstacles the Kino-Riport cameraman faced, which until now stood in the way of all other similar companies. The footage is not only uniquely sensational but is excellent photography as well.’”

“The picture shows the two principal guilty parties. 1. János Kabalyuk (according to other sources: Sándor), who received a jail sentence of four and a half years, and 2. György Vorobcsuk, who was jailed for 18 months. (Kino-Riport footage of János Fröhlich and Aladár Fodor)”

The two main criminals (source: Tolnai Világlapja, 15 March 1914.)

Other photographs relevant to the event: