German Terrorist Probe Targets Honecker

West German prosecutors Thursday launched a criminal investigation against ousted East German leader Erich Honecker for allegedly harboring several fugitive terrorists wanted in a string of deadly attacks in the West.

The probe focuses on Honecker, former Minister of State Security Erich Mielke and “numerous others” in East Germany’s dismantled secret police network, according to chief prosecutor Gerhard Klass.

“This investigation is not at all symbolic,” Klass told The Times in a telephone interview. “The interrogations of some of the suspected terrorists captured in East Germany in recent days have indicated that they were given new identities, jobs, housing and perhaps even money by the old regime there.”

The investigation will likely take at least several months, he said, “clearly longer than German unification.” That would make extradition a moot point if charges are eventually filed, he added.

Honecker and most of his top lieutenants are under investigation in East Germany for alleged corruption, but prosecutors have said that formal charges are unlikely because the men are considered too sickly or senile to stand trial.

The West German action follows the arrests of eight suspected Red Army Faction guerrillas in East Germany over the last two weeks. Bonn has been seeking about 30 key Red Army figures for more than a decade in connection with a rash of assassinations, bombings, kidnapings and robberies by the leftist gang in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Investigators have said the eight arrested in East Germany appeared to be living quiet, normal, family lives.

In a rare public statement issued Wednesday through his attorney, the 77-year-old Honecker denied having granted sanctuary to terrorists.

“I strongly protest against publicly raised suspicions that I supported terrorism,” he said. “None of these accusations are true.”

West German officials have said there is no evidence suggesting that the Communist regime directly supported the Red Army Faction or provided a base for terrorist actions.