GERMANY: EGON KRENZ - NO APPEAL AGAINST CONVICTION скачать в хорошем качестве

GERMANY: EGON KRENZ - NO APPEAL AGAINST CONVICTION

(8 Nov 1999) Natural Sound Germany's last communist leader has failed in his appeal against a manslaughter conviction. Egon Krenz and two colleagues were convicted in 1997 for shooting dead citizens who were trying to flee across the East German border to the West. The verdict comes as Germany gears up to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The ruling by Germany's highest federal appeals court upholds a six-and-a-half-year sentence against Krenz and three-year sentences against two of his colleagues. But many in eastern Germany have opposed the trials of former communist leaders and border guards. They say they were acting to uphold East German law and that a united Germany doesn't have the right to judge them. Inside the courtroom, a clutch of elderly people were among the spectators who waited to hear the verdict. They included former East German Defence Minister Heinz Kessler who has served four-and-a-half years of a seven-and-a-half-year sentence on charges of incitement to manslaughter. Nearly 1-thousand people were killed trying to cross the heavily fortified border into West Germany after the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961. Krenz led East Germany for six weeks during the turbulent autumn of 1989 and earlier was a top official in the communist regime. He has described his trial as "victor's justice" and argues that united Germany has no right to prosecute him for events that took place in another country. During his appeal trial, he testified that he was unable to influence the shoot-to-kill border policy because East Germany was a satellite of the former Soviet Union. Since unification in 1990, hundreds of former East German border guards and officials have been convicted on charges related to shooting those trying to flee to the West. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...