BONN TO DECIDE ON PROSECUTION TIME

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31942, 20 March 1969, Page 13

BONN TO DECIDE ON PROSECUTION TIME

(N.Z.P.A .-Reuter—Copyright; BONN. The West German Parliament will soon face a painfully difficult decision on whether to abolish the Statute of Limitations setting a deadline at the end of this year for the prosecution of Nazi murder crimes.

There is a strong feeling in West Germany, reflected among many deputies of Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger’s Christian Democratic Party, that it is time to bury the past. But West German Parliamentarians are also conscious of the adverse effects on opinion abroad that failure to act would have. Only last November, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a convention saying that there should be no limitations statute on war crimes and crimes against humanity. Moreover, many deputies, including the overwhelming majority of the Social Democratic Party, believe there is a moral compulsion not to abandon the hunt, even though it is nearly 25 years since the collapse of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich at the end of the Second World War.

Among those pressing for abolition of the statute on moral grounds is the Social Democratic Justice Minister, Mr Gustav Heinemann, the President-elect. The Statute of Limitations has long been an explosive issue in West German politics. Although its 20-year limit applies to murder generally, its political significance derives entirely from its relevance to Germany’s past under Hitler.

In 1965, Parliament shied away from abolishing the statute altogether and decided to extend it for a further five years on the ground that it took several years after the end of the war in 1945 for the justice system to start functioning properly. Now the legal committee of the Bundersrat—the Upper House—has, by a narrow ma-

jority, recommended submission to the Bundestag (Lower House) of a bill abolishing the statute.

If this bill is to get through Parliament, an appreciable number of Christian Democrats will have to support it since the minority opposition party, the Free Democrats, wants the statute to be upheld.

Opponents of abolition argue that it involves unconstitutional retroactive legislation, or that after so many years since the crimes were committed it is becoming too difficult to ensure that justice is done.

Already the search for a compromise is going ahead. The Deputy Parliamentary Speaker (Mr Richard Jaegaer) of the Bavarian branch of the Christian Democratic Party, has suggested cancelling the statute, but also introducing a partial amnesty for any Nazi criminals who would not receive more than four-year sentences on conviction. Such a solution would, its supporters hope, be more acceptable abroad than failure to do anything at all. Just how many Naz, murderers would escape justice if the statute is not lifted is anybody’s guess, according to public prosecutor Dr Adalbert Rueckers, head of the central office for the investigation of Nazi crimes at Ludwigsburg. His team is hard at work sifting 13.000 pages of documentary evidence supplied a the end of last year by Soviet authorities, »nd he is aiming to open T.oceedings or new cases uncover' . I June, in piefity of t’’** b beat the deadline.

Investigations agairu 15,000 suspects are already under way and this means that those against whom there is sufficient evidence can be brought to trial after December, whatever Parliament decides.