The late dr L. Čermelj (1889—1980) was professor of mathematics and physics. He was also occupied with the study of the status of the Slovene and Croat minorities under Italy and informed the Yugoslav and international publicity about the results of his investigations. In 1941 the fascist Special Court for state protection condemned him to death in the 2nd Proceeding in Trieste. The author’ cites the Vatican documents, from which one gets acquainted with the fact that the Pope Pius XII also intervened by Mussolini to set free the convicts. From 9 of them only 4 were set free.