that purported to link General Píka to British military intelligence. (Historian Edward Crankshaw noted that the document, written in broken English, was "the most appalling and most unimaginably inefficient bit of forgery [he had] ever come across".) Despite the inadequacy of the memorandum, Píka was held through 1948 and interrogated by -trained officers of the OBZ. Reicin appointed Karel Vaš as chief investigator in the Píka case. Reicin would later, in a departure from standard practice, name Vaš the second prosecutor at Píka's trial. According to Reicin's secretary, Vaš told Reicin: "[j]ust tell me how much you need for Píka, fifteen years or the gallows, and the indictment can be manufactured accordingly...." From 26 to 29 January 1949, Píka was tried in secret before the Military Senate of the State Court in Prague. (This court was specially created as an instrument of political repression in mid-1948.) Charged with high treason, damaging the interests of the Czechoslovak Republic and the Soviet Union, and undermining the ability of the state to defend itself, Píka was not allowed to present a defence, and no witnesses were called. Píka was sentenced to death. He unsuccessfully appealed to the Supreme Court. Píka and his lawyer asked President Klement Gottwald (leader of the communist government) for clemency but this effort was unsuccessful. Heliodor Píka was hanged in the yard of Bory Prison () in Plzeň around 06:00 on the morning of 21 June 1949. In a farewell letter to his family, written the night before his execution, he wrote: "I am sure that this is not a judicial error but a political murder". Offered the chance to express his last wishes as he stood at the gallows, he said: "my ultimate desire is that the nation remain united, and that everyone, without regard for their differences, work toward the unity of our people". He was the first of more than 200 Czechoslovaks tried and executed for political reasons by the communist government of Czechoslovakia. His body was never found. Aftermath The day after Píka's conviction, Reicin, writing under a pseudonym in the Czechoslovak Army's newspaper, published a series of articles casting a politico-ideological slant upon the Píka affair. Reicin's articles were soon republished in a widely circulated pamphlet entitled "A Path That Leads to the Depths of Treason". During the Prague Spring of 1968, Píka's case was reopened at the request of Milan Píka (son of