BERLIN : Honecker on Trial
Following long delays, former East German leader Erich Honecker is scheduled to go on trial Thursday in Berlin, facing charges in connection with the killing of East Germans who tried to flee across the infamous Berlin Wall.
The 80-year-old Honecker, who is suffering from such poor health that some have argued he is incapable of the ordeal, is the third former Communist leader to answer before a court for his actions since revolutions swept eastern Europe in 1989. Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu was executed in December, 1989, after a secret, summary trial. In September, Bulgaria’s Todor Zhivkov was sentenced to seven years in prison for embezzlement.
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