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Article: East Germans probe Honecker role in deaths
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- June 30, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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EAST BERLIN East Germany has begun investigating former
Communist leader Erich Honecker on suspicion of murder over his
regime's policy of gunning down people trying to get across the
border to West Germany.
The prosecutor-general's office said Friday the inquiry focused
on Honecker's "shoot-to-kill" order, under which citizens caught
crossing closed border strips to the West were killed with machinegun
fire, shrapnel-spraying booby traps or mines.
It said, "An investigation on the suspicion of murder has been
instituted" against Honecker in his old capacity as chairman of the
now-dissolved National Defense Council, which oversaw East Germany's
armed forces.
About 190 East Germans ...