German Leader's Conviction Stands
The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday confirmed the manslaughter convictions of Egon Krenz, East Germany's last communist leader, and two other prominent figures of the old regime.
Europe's highest human rights court struck down the complaint of Krenz, 63, who argued that his 1997 conviction and 6½-year sentence violated his human rights because he broke no East German law by stopping citizens from escaping.
Krenz served in a succession of senior government positions from 1973 until reunification with West Germany in 1990. About 1,000 people were killed trying to cross from east to west during the 41-year existence of the German Democratic Republic.
The human rights court also upheld the manslaughter convictions of two other senior East German officials: Fritz Streletz, 74, an ex-deputy defense minister, and Heinz Kessler, 80, a former defense minister.
Kessler was sentenced to seven years in prison and Streletz to 5½ years, but both were released last year.
The three sat on the East German National Defense Council, which set border policy, including the introduction of shoot-to-kill orders at the Berlin Wall and other border barriers to the West.
Krenz was temporarily released from prison while the Strasbourg court dealt with his case. He began serving his sentence in January of last year.
In Berlin, the German justice ministry said it was satisfied with the verdict. A ministry spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said the Strasbourg judges confirmed "that the German courts made the right decision."
The ruling against the former East German leaders by the 17 Strasbourg judges was unanimous.
However, the court split 14-3 in upholding a German court's conviction of a border guard identified only as "Mr. W." The border guard received a 20-month suspended sentence for intentional homicide after being convicted of shooting a person trying to escape across the border in 1972.
Although none of the three senior officials was convicted of pulling the trigger, they were judged to bear political responsibility for deaths at the wall while they were in power.
The Strasbourg court rejected the argument of the three that their actions did not constitute crimes at the time.
"The applicants' acts also constituted offenses defined with sufficient accessibility and foreseeability by the rules of international law on the protection of human rights," the court said in a statement.
Kessler's lawyer had told the court that East Germany never had a formal policy to shoot and kill those trying to flee westward. And the lawyer for the ex-border guard argued that his client was but the last in a long chain of command.
The German government's lawyer told the European court that German courts acted correctly. He said that the use of a gun could be justified only as a last resort to stop a crime.
The government argued that eve East German courts would have punished those responsible for the deaths, had charges ever been brought there. The Strasbourg court followed that argument.
Krenz's jailing was a moment of triumph for German prosecutors after years of struggling to hold former East German leaders accountable for repression.
Yet the regime's most prominent figure, Krenz's predecessor Erich Honecker, escaped trial for health reasons. He died in 1994 in exile in Chile.
The European Court of Human Rights has the power to overturn rulings from national courts that it deems to be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Hundreds of former East German border guards and officials have been convicted since German unification for shootings at the former border. Most received suspended sentences or parole.
By ANSELM BENGESER
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