Honecker Jailed, Will Face Treason Trial : East Germany: Three associates of the ousted Communist chief are also charged.

Erich Honecker, the ousted East German Communist leader, was seized and imprisoned Monday and the chief prosecutor said he will be tried in March on charges of treason.

Prosecutor General Hans-Juergen Joseph told Parliament in East Berlin that Honecker had exercised “indescribable arrogance of power” for almost two decades before being driven from office Oct. 18.

Joseph said three other Honecker associates, all members of the Communist Party Politburo, also will stand trial on charges of treason: Erich Mielke, minister of state security for 32 years; Guenther Mittag, who was in charge of the economy, and Joachim Herrman, who was head of propaganda and information.

Joseph asserted that the ruling clique had violated human rights, embezzled public funds, covered up fraudulent elections and censored the news. He said the people responsible will be tried by the Supreme Court. Conviction could mean life imprisonment.

Shortly before his arrest, Honecker, 77, was discharged from Charity Hospital, East Berlin’s largest, where he had been operated on for a cancerous tumor of the kidney. He was immediately taken into custody.

Honecker was permitted only a brief farewell meeting with his wife, Margot, who was education minister in the old regime, before he was driven away by security officers.

Joseph, the prosecutor, said Honecker could use the prison’s hospital facilities if they are needed.

He disclosed that 23 leading members of the old Communist regime and about 200 regional party officials are being investigated for alleged corruption and misrule.

“We have a historical duty,” he said, “to bring to justice the main culprits for violations of the constitution, for our economic chaos, for the muzzling of the people and systematic violation of human rights.”

Meanwhile, Communist Prime Minister Hans Modrow reported to Parliament on the decision to move up East Germany’s first free elections from May 6 to March 18.

In a Parliament speech, Modrow said that law and order have broken down, the economy is faltering and East Germans are continuing to flee to the West.

“I don’t think I have dramatized things,” he declared.

He noted that his government has set up an interim coalition with 10 opposition groups to rule until after the elections.

“The economic situation is worsening alarmingly,” he said. “Strikes, slowdowns and other disturbances are leading to serious production breakdowns.”

Of the 400,000 East Germans who have fled to the West in slightly more than a year, he said, “all appeals by the government have not succeeded in stopping this hemorrhaging of the population.”