Honecker Released From Custody : Plea for Detention Pending Trial Rejected in East Berlin

Former hard-line communist leader Erich Honecker was released from investigative custody today, a day after being jailed to await trial on charges of treason and official corruption.

Wolfgang Vogel, a lawyer representing the ailing former leader, said an East Berlin court rejected an appeal by East Germany’s prosecutor general to keep Honecker in custody. A judge Monday refused to issue a detention warrant against Honecker, citing his poor health.

East Germany’s state-run ADN news agency said the court noted the severity of the accusations against Honecker, but ruled that the “defendant’s physical condition was too frail” for him to be jailed. The court ordered him released from the Rummelsburg detention center without delay.

ADN said Honecker was released late today and the Hamburg-based mass circulation Bild Zeitung newspaper reported he will be treated at a Protestant care center north of the city.

The decision to release Honecker will likely strengthen defense contentions that Honecker is too sick to stand trial.

Honecker was taken into investigative custody Monday after his release from the East Berlin hospital where he underwent surgery to remove a malignant kidney tumor.

The detention of Honecker, who faces charges of high treason, was criticized by his doctors and also by leading West German politicians.

Egon Bahr, a leader in West Germany’s opposition Social Democratic Party, said today that Honecker’s arrest “violated humanitarian principles.”

“There is no doubt that Honecker should be made to answer for his deeds,” Bahr said. “But putting him in prison, while satisfying those seeking revenge, is not in keeping with the principles of a constitutional state.”

Honecker, 77, was ousted Oct. 18 after a peaceful pro-democracy movement swept the country. He and several other old guard leaders have since been accused of abuse of power and corruption.

Friedrich Wolf, a lawyer representing Honecker, said there appears to be a sharp split in opinion between prosecutors and the judiciary over whether Honecker should be detained until he goes on trial in March.

“Prosecutors are apparently intent on satisfying the anger of the people and are insisting that he be held,” Wolf said.

Wolf said defense attorneys were surprised by the judge’s initial decision not to issue the warrant.

“I never thought I would find a judge in East Germany that would turn down an arrest warrant against Honecker,” he said.

Wolf said Honecker is suffering from “general depression” after his incarceration.