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Germany's federal appeals court yesterday upheld jail sentences on three leading members of the communist regime in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), a day before celebrations begin to mark the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The ruling, confirming a lower court decision of August 1997, means Egon Krenz, the former East German head of state and Communist party boss, faces a 6*-year sentence for his responsibility for the deaths of East Germans trying to cross to the west. Three-year sentences were also confirmed for G�nter Schabowski and G�nther Kleiber, GDR politburo members.
Mr Krenz had denied responsibility, while the two others had argued they were only secondary players. The court also rejected pleas that it was applying the law retroactively.
Mr Krenz, 62, was the prot�g� of Erich Honecker, the long-standing East German leader whom he replaced in 1989. Mr Schabowski, 70, was a former editor of Neues Deutschland, the party newspaper, while Mr Kleiber, 68, was a leading economic planner.
Mr Krenz, in court for yesterday's decision, said he would continue with his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. He argued the ruling failed to acknowledge his role in ensuring that the collapse of the GDR proceeded without bloodshed and that border guards reacted peacefully to attempts by East Germans to cross to the west after exit rules were relaxed.
Mr Schabowski sprang to fame as the man who, on the evening of November 9 1989, announced the border was open, but failed to note the liberalisation was due to take effect the following day. His remarks led to chaos as throngs of East Germans, assembled along the Berlin Wall, were eventually allowed through.
Lothar Bisky, chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism, successors to the communists, said the sentence on Mr Krenz marked "a continuation of the cold war by other means".