On November 12, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany upheld convictions and sentences against three former officials of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The decision appears to violate both the German constitution and the treaty under which the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR were unified.
Heinz Kessler (76), former defence minister of the GDR, Fritz Streletz (70), former deputy defence minister, and Hans Albrecht (76), former first secretary of the Socialist Unity (Communist) Party (SED) for the district of Suhl, had been free pending their appeals against convictions for deaths of East Germans at the Berlin Wall. They must now begin serving their sentences.
Article 103 of the German constitution prohibits retrospective application of law, as do both the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, the court ruled that this prohibition does not apply to acts committed in the GDR. This is despite the fact that the FRG-GDR unification treaty also explicitly banned retroactive application of FRG penal law to GDR citizens for actions carried out under GDR jurisdiction.
Leaders of the Party of Democratic Socialism, the all-Germany successor to the SED, condemned the court's decision for upholding "conqueror's justice" and the political persecution of former leaders of the GDR. PDS chairperson Lothar Bisky, honorary chairperson Hans Modrow and parliamentary leader Gregor Gysi issued a statement pointing out that all of the Warsaw Pact countries had had similarly harsh border laws, yet only East German officials were being prosecuted. This was because "the other East European states live on and would certainly have problems demanding that their troops maintain the security of their borders today, while persecuting them for having maintained that security yesterday".
The three PDS leaders said that "each death at the border was a death too many". However, in the final analysis, those killed were victims of the Cold War. "These victims cannot be helped by condemning soldiers and other representatives of the GDR."
In another example of political persecution, Modrow himself is to go on trial before a court in Dresden on November 29. The charge against him was originally dismissed by the court but has now been reinstated on appeal.
Modrow is accused of perjury during 1992 testimony to a committee of the Saxon parliament investigating events in Dresden in the autumn of 1989. Modrow answered, correctly, in the negative when asked if the District Deployment Directorate of Dresden had been convened in October 1989.
As first secretary of the SED in the district, Modrow was automatically chair of the Deployment Directorate. Directly subordinate to the National Defence Council and SED leader Erich Honecker, the directorates were intended to deal with emergency situations.
In October 1989, Modrow ignored orders from Honecker to convene the District Deployment Directorate to deal with demonstrations in Dresden. However, it appears that participants in other meetings, some of whom would have been involved in the directorate had it met, reported to their ministers in Berlin as though the directorate had been convened. This is the only basis for the charge against Modrow, who commented to journalists after the appeals court ruling that he is now in the anomalous position of being prosecuted by the FRG for failing to follow orders from Erich Honecker.
Protests against the prosecution of Modrow can be sent to: Landgericht Dresden 3. Strafkammer, Postfach 120962 Dresden, 01008 Dresden, Germany. Solidarity messages can be sent to Hans Modrow, Kleine Alexandrstr.28, 10178 Berlin, Germany, fax 4930 2400 9425.