Verdicts in the Wall shooters’ trial

The courts announce their decision against members of the Politburo

As the crime of murder has no statute of limitations and the shooting of East Germans on the Berlin Wall was illegal even under East German law, West German courts were able to try those responsible for the fatal shots fired between 1961 and 1989. Following German reunification, over 100 “Wall shooter trials” took place, involving around 250 accused either of firing the fatal shots or of having ordered them. Almost half of the defendants were acquitted. Most of those found guilty of murder were handed suspended sentences; others were sentenced to prison terms of up to ten years. Proceedings against the state leadership were often held separately due to the defendants’ inability to stand trial on health grounds and many were ultimately discontinued. Erich Honecker was discharged from trial, as was former Stasi Minister Erich Mielke, although he was handed a six-year prison sentence for the murder of two police officers in 1931. Mielke was released after two years at the age of 87. Minister of Defence Heinz Keßler received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for manslaughter.

A Berlin court handed down its verdicts against members of the SED Politburo on 25 August 1997. Egon Krenz, Honecker’s short-lived successor as General Secretary of the SED was sentenced to six-and-a-half years, Günter Schabowski and another defendant each received three years. These verdicts were upheld by all the higher courts up to and including the Federal Court of Justice. A constitutional complaint was unsuccessful, and the European Court of Human Rights also found no violation of due process by the original Berlin court.