Trial of Honecker’s Ailing Ex-Aide Is Suspended

German justice authorities Friday suspended the manslaughter trial of former East German Prime Minister Willi Stoph after he suffered a heart attack.

Stoph was to have been tried with ex-East German Communist leader Erich Honecker and four other old associates for manslaughter in the fatal shootings of East German defectors at the Berlin Wall during the Cold War era.

Stoph was absent for the start of the trial Thursday because of what his lawyer described as a heart attack the night before, and the proceedings were adjourned until Monday.

Court spokesman Bruno Rautenberg said Friday proceedings against Stoph were shelved after medical experts confirmed he had a heart ailment that left him unfit to withstand a trial.

The trial of Honecker and the others will go ahead despite the absence of Stoph, justice officials said.

Stoph, 78, could be tried separately at a later date if his health improves, Rautenberg said.

The other accused former officials are Stasi security chief Erich Mielke, Defense Minister Heinz Kessler, his deputy, Fritz Streletz, and Hans Albrecht, a regional Communist Party boss.

They are charged with causing the deaths of a representative selection of 13 East Germans who were shot by marksmen on the former inner-German border.

Prosecutors accuse Honecker and his neo-Stalinist cohorts, toppled in a 1989 uprising that burst open the Berlin Wall, of drafting a shoot-to-kill order for East German border guards that resulted in more than 200 deaths over three decades.