Honecker Charged With Diverting Millions in Ransom to His Account

The East German prosecutor’s office said Sunday that former East German leader Erich Honecker has been charged with diverting to his own bank account millions of West German marks paid to his government to ransom political prisoners.

A spokesman for Prosecutor Hans-Juergen Joseph told the official East German news service ADN that the 77-year-old former president and Communist Party leader has been accused among other things of paying into his East Berlin bank account $45 million in West German marks in 1989 alone.

The spokesman confirmed a report published in the current edition of Der Spiegel, the weekly West German news magazine, that the huge sum was paid by the West German government to “buy” freedom for dissident East Germans and was paid into an account to which only Honecker had access.

The prosecutor’s office told ADN that Honecker, who was ousted in October, still is being investigated and no date has been set for a trial on the many charges against him, including treason for allegedly subverting the East German constitution by misuse of power.