List of people convicted of treason
This is a list of people convicted of treason.
Some countries have a high constitutional hurdle to conviction for treason, while many countries have less stringent definitions.
Armenia
- Meruzhan Artzruni, Lord Prince of Vaspurakan, for conspiring with one of the Great Persian Kings, Shapur II against his liege-lord, Armenian King Arsaces II, whom he betrayed to Persia. He was captured by Arsaces II's son King Papas and executed.
Austria
- Count Lajos Batthyány de Németújvár, for involvement in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Executed by firing squad on the same day as the 13 Martyrs of Arad.
Austria-Hungary
- Nedeljko Čabrinović, for conspiring to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Vaso Čubrilović, for conspiring to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Veljko Čubrilović, for conspiring to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Trifko Grabez, for conspiring to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Danilo Ilić, for conspiring to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Muhamed Mehmedbašić, for conspiring to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Cvjetko Popović, for conspiring to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Gavrilo Princip, for assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Nazario Sauro, for fighting in the Royal Italian Navy in the First World War
- Nikola Posnovski, for threatening to overthrow the government in the First World War
Canada
- Louis Riel, executed for leading the Métis in the North-West Rebellion against Canada's expansion into the west.
- Kanao Inouye, Kamloops-born sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II, executed for killing eight Canadian prisoners of war captured at the Battle of Hong Kong.
China
- Zhou Fohai, for serving in the Wang Jingwei government in the Second World War
- Chen Gongbo, for serving in the Wang Jingwei government in the Second World War
- Wang Jingwei, president of the Reorganized National Government of China in the Second World War
- Wang Lijun, vice-mayor and police chief of Tieling convicted for giving secrets to the U.S. consulate and a British businessman
Republic of Congo
- Pascal Lissouba, former President of the Republic of Congo, was convicted of treason after being overthrown by Denis Sassou Nguesso in the Second Republic of the Congo Civil War
Czechoslovakia
- Karel Čurda, for betraying the Czech Resistance and the assassins of Reinhard Heydrich.
Denmark
- Henrik Kauffmann was charged with grand treason by the Nazi-occupied Danish government for helping the Allied Powers by allowing the United States to occupy Greenland.
East Germany
- Werner Teske was accused, convicted, and executed for "planned treason" by embezzling funds and plotting to defect to West Germany; his sentence was posthumously overturned after German reunification.
England
Estonia
- Aleksei Dressen
- Herman Simm
- Vladimir Veitman
Fiji
- George Speight, for plotting the Fiji coup of 2000. Death sentence commuted to life in prison.
- Ratu Jope Seniloli, incumbent Vice-President, for his role in the coup of 2000. Sentenced to four years in prison; released by a sympathetic government after three months.
Finland
- Lauri Törni, for having served with the Waffen-SS at the end of World War II, later received a presidential pardon
France
- François Achille Bazaine, imprisoned for treason after being blamed for France's loss of the Franco-Prussian War
- Robert Brasillach, for anti-Semitic and fascist writings, including his newspaper Je suis partout, in Vichy France
- Marcel Bucard, for founding the collaborationist Mouvement Franciste and the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism
- Louis-Ferdinand Céline, for writing anti-Semitic and fascist pamphlets supporting Vichy France
- Cinq-Mars
- Joseph Darnand, for leading the Vichy French Milice.
- Émile Dewoitine, aviation industrialist sentenced to 20 years forced labour sentence for collaboration.
- Charles François Dumouriez
- Isabeau of Bavaria
- John the Fearless
- Pierre Laval, for being Prime Minister of Vichy France.
- Jean Victor Marie Moreau
- Michel Ney
- Philippe Pétain
- Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
- Marie Antoinette
- Louis XVI
Germany
- Adolf Hitler, for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923
- Marinus van der Lubbe, for high treason and arson in the Reichstag fire case, in 1933; the extent of his true responsibility is still disputed by historians
- Anton Schmid, for saving Jews and helping Jewish partisans, in 1942. The Bundeswehr has named two barracks after him.
- Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst in 1943 for their involvement in the anti-Nazi White Rose movement
- Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld, a key conspirator in the failed assassination attempt in the July 20 plot in 1944 on Hitler's life
- Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, for the attempted assassination of Hitler in the July 20 plot in 1944
- Günter Guillaume, Private Secretary to then-chancellor Willy Brandt, and his wife Christel Guillaume, both officers of East German Stasi, in 1975
- Clyde Lee Conrad, former U.S. Army non-commissioned officer, the only person to have been handed down a lifetime sentence for treason by a court of the Federal Republic of Germany, in 1990
- , counter-intelligence officer with the Bundesverfassungsschutz who had spied for East German Stasi, in 1992
Great Britain
- Archibald Cameron of Locheil, for his part in the 1745 Jacobite rising
- Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, for his part in the 1745 Jacobite rising
- William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale, for supporting the Jacobite rising of 1715
- Thomas Paine, for publishing revolutionary literature supporting the French Revolution and criticizing the British monarchy
- Charles Radclyffe, for supporting the Jacobite rising of 1715
Greece
- Dimitrios Gounaris, Prime Minister of Greece, convicted of treason in 1922 for the Asia Minor catastrophe. Executed 15 November 1922.
- Petros Protopapadakis, Minister of Economy in Dimitrios Gounaris' government and later Prime Minister of Greece, convicted of treason for the Asia Minor catastrophe. Executed 15 November 1922.
- Nikolaos Stratos, Minister of Internal Affairs in Gounaris' government, convicted of treason for the Asia Minor catastrophe. Executed 15 November 1922.
- , Minister of Foreign Affairs in Gounaris' government, convicted of treason for the Asia Minor catastrophe. Executed 15 November 1922.
- , Minister of Military Affairs in Gounaris' government, convicted of treason for the Asia Minor catastrophe. Executed 15 November 1922.
- Georgios Hatzanestis, commanding officer of the Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace Greek army, convicted of treason for the Asia Minor catastrophe. Executed 15 November 1922.
- , rear admiral and minister in Gounaris' government, convicted of treason for the Asia Minor catastrophe. Sentenced to life imprisonment.
- Xenophon Stratigos, major general and minister in Gounaris' government, convicted of treason for the Asia Minor catastrophe. Sentenced to life imprisonment.
- George Papadopoulos, Greek colonel, leader of a military junta, convicted of treason and jailed for life, died in Korydallos prison 27 June 1999.
Hawaii
- Charles T. Gulick, former cabinet minister
- Robert William Wilcox, military leader, later delegate to US Congress
Hungary
- Imre Nagy, Prime Minister of Hungary, for leading the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
- Count Fidel Palffy
- László Rajk
- Sándor Szűcs, international footballer, for defecting.
Israel
- Meir Tobianski, falsely accused of treason during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Executed by firing squad but pardoned after his death.
- Mordechai Vanunu, for revealing details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986.
- "Prisoner X2", a mole within Mossad.
Italy
- Tullio Cianetti, convicted and sentenced to thirty years imprisonment due to the letter of apology he had written to Benito Mussolini, which saved him from the death penalty, at the Verona trial for voting yes on the 25 July 1943 motion in the Grand Council of Fascism to depose Benito Mussolini. After he was liberated, he went into exile to Portuguese Mozambique where he stayed till his death.
- Emilio De Bono, convicted and executed by firing squad at the Verona trial for voting yes on the 25 July 1943 motion in the Grand Council of Fascism to depose Benito Mussolini.
- Luciano Gottardi, convicted and executed by firing squad at the Verona trial for voting yes on the 25 July 1943 motion in the Grand Council of Fascism to depose Benito Mussolini.
- Giovanni Marinelli, convicted and executed by firing squad at the Verona trial for voting yes on the 25 July 1943 motion in the Grand Council of Fascism to depose Benito Mussolini.
- Carlo Pareschi, convicted and executed by firing squad at the Verona trial for voting yes on the 25 July 1943 motion in the Grand Council of Fascism to depose Benito Mussolini.
Japan
- Ozaki Hotsumi, journalist and Soviet agent
- Daisuke Namba, Japanese left-wing activist
- Kotoku Shusui, Japanese anarchist
Kenya
- Hezekiah Ochuka, Kenya airforce soldier, for conspiring to overthrow the government of Daniel Moi in 1982
Kuwait
- Alaa Hussein Ali, for heading the Iraqi puppet government during the Gulf War
Liberia
- Edward James Roye, in connection with the 1871 Liberian coup d'état; sentenced to death but died in uncertain circumstances before sentence carried out