WORLD : Honecker Evidence Lacking
The West German government does not have enough evidence to charge former East German leader Erich Honecker and other discredited Communists with supporting urban guerrillas in West Germany, the federal prosecutor said today.
Alexander von Stahl told a radio interviewer that Bonn could start proceedings against Honecker and former East German spy chiefs Erich Mielke and Markus Wolf only if it could prove they had actively supported West German guerrillas.
“At the moment, there are only very vague indications in that direction, so vague that they do not suffice to start proceedings,” Stahl said.
“If they have only given cover to persons who wanted to leave (the urban guerrilla scene), then according to our laws, this does not amount to the crime of supporting a criminal organization,” he said.
East Germany has arrested six suspected members of the West German Red Army Faction in the last 11 days.
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