Editing Erich Honecker (section)

==Criminal trial==
[[File:DDR steel watch tower cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|Honecker gave [[Schießbefehl|orders to fire]] along the [[inner German border]].]]
On 12 May 1992, while under protection in the Chilean embassy in Moscow, Honecker, along with several co-defendants, including [[Erich Mielke]], [[Willi Stoph]], [[Heinz Kessler]], [[Fritz Streletz]] and [[Hans Albrecht (politician)|Hans Albrecht]], were accused in a 783-page indictment of taking part in the "collective manslaughter" of 68 people as they attempted to flee East Germany.<ref>{{cite news|title=Honecker charged in deaths of East Germans in flight|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=16 May 1992|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/16/world/honecker-charged-in-deaths-of-east-germans-in-flight.html|archive-date=24 July 2016|access-date=7 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160724155158/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/16/world/honecker-charged-in-deaths-of-east-germans-in-flight.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Trial research paper">{{cite news|title=The Honecker trial: The East German past and the German future|publisher=Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies|date=January 1996|url=http://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/216.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/216.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> It was alleged that Honecker, in his role as Chairman of the [[National Defense Council of East Germany|National Defence Council]], had both given the decisive order in 1961 for the construction of the [[Berlin Wall]] and also, at subsequent meetings, ordered the extensive expansion of the border fortifications around West Berlin and the barriers to the West so as to make any passing impossible.<ref name="Trial research paper"/> In addition, specifically at a May 1974 sitting of the National Defence Council, he had stated that the development of the border must continue, that lines of fire were warranted along the whole border and, as prior, the use of firearms was essential: "Comrades who have successfully used their firearms [are] to be praised".<ref name="Schießbefehl"/><ref name="Trial research paper"/>

The charges were approved by the [[Landgericht Berlin|Berlin District Court]] on 19 October 1992 at the opening of the trial.<ref name="Trial start">{{cite news|title=Honecker trial starts Nov. 12|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=21 October 1992|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/21/world/honecker-trial-starts-nov-12.html}}</ref> On the same day, it was decided that the hearing of 56 charges would be postponed and the remaining twelve cases would be the subject of the trial to begin on 12 November 1992.<ref name="Trial start"/> The question of under which laws the former East German leader could be tried was highly controversial and, in the view of many jurists, the process had an uncertain outcome.<ref name="Trial research paper"/><ref name="Trial defence">{{cite book|last=Laughland|first=John|title=A History of Political Trials: From Charles I to Saddam Hussein|pages=195–206|year=2008|publisher=Peter Lang}}</ref>

During his 70-minute-long statement to the court on 3 December 1992, Honecker said that he had political responsibility for the building of the Berlin Wall and subsequent deaths at the borders, but claimed he was "without juridical, legal or moral guilt".<ref name="Trial defence"/> He blamed the escalation of the [[Cold War]] for the building of the Berlin Wall, saying the decision had not been taken solely by the East German leadership but all the [[Warsaw Pact]] countries that had collectively concluded in 1961 that a "Third World War with millions dead" would be unavoidable without this action.<ref name="Trial defence"/> He quoted several West German politicians who had opined that the wall had indeed reduced and stabilised the two factions.<ref name="Trial defence"/> He stated that he had always regretted every death, both from a human point of view and due to the political damage they caused.<ref name="Trial defence"/>

[[File:Berlin Wall 1961-11-20.jpg|thumb|right|Honecker said the [[Berlin Wall]] was "unavoidable" to prevent a "third World War with millions dead".]]
Making reference to past trials in Germany against communists and socialists such as [[Karl Marx]] and [[August Bebel]], he claimed that the legal process against him was politically motivated and a "[[show trial]]" against communism.<ref>{{cite book|last=Weitz|first=Eric D.|title=Creating German Communism, 1890–1990: From Popular Protests to Socialist State|page=3|year=1996|publisher=Princeton University Press}}</ref><ref name="Das Ende">{{cite news|title=Das Ende der Honecker-Ära|publisher=[[Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk|MDR]]|language=de|url=http://www.mdr.de/damals/archiv/artikel92582.html|date=5 January 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604001537/http://www.mdr.de/damals/archiv/artikel92582.html|archive-date=4 June 2016}}</ref> He stated that no court lying in the territory of West Germany had the legal right to place him, his co-defendants or any East German citizen on trial, and that the portrayal of East Germany as an {{lang|de|"[[Unrechtsstaat]]"}} was contradictory to its recognition by over one hundred other states and the [[United Nations Security Council|UN Security Council]].<ref name="Honecker defence">{{cite news|title=Persönliche Erklärung von Erich Honecker vor dem Berliner Landgericht am 3. Dezember 1992|publisher=Glasnost.de|language=de|url=http://www.glasnost.de/db/DokZeit/92honerkl.html|archive-date=27 September 2013|access-date=8 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927085435/http://www.glasnost.de/db/DokZeit/92honerkl.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Furthermore, he questioned how a German court could now legally judge his political decisions in the light of the lack of legal action taken over various military operations that had been carried out by Western countries with either overt support or absence of condemnation from (West) Germany.<ref name="Honecker defence"/> He dismissed public criticism of the [[Stasi]], arguing that journalists in Western countries were praised for denouncing others.<ref name="Honecker defence"/> While accepting political responsibility for the deaths at the Wall, he believed he was free of any "legal or moral guilt", and thought that East Germany would go down in history as "a sign that socialism is possible and is better than capitalism".<ref>{{cite news|title=Terminally ill Honecker should be released from jail, court rules|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=13 January 1993|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-01-13/news/9301030351_1_erich-honecker-honecker-defense-attorney-trial|access-date=31 August 2013|archive-date=27 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927113156/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-01-13/news/9301030351_1_erich-honecker-honecker-defense-attorney-trial|url-status=dead}}</ref>

By the time of the proceedings Honecker was already seriously ill.<ref name="Illness threatens">{{cite news|title=Illness threatens Honecker's trial|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=18 November 1992|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/18/world/illness-threatens-honecker-s-trial.html}}</ref> A new [[CT scan]] in August 1992 had confirmed an ultrasound examination made in Moscow and the existence of a malignant tumour in the right lobe of his liver.<ref>{{cite news|title=Doctor says Honecker too sick to stand trial|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=17 August 1992|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/08/17/doctor-says-honecker-too-sick-to-stand-trial/}}</ref> Based on these findings and additional medical testimonies, Honecker's lawyers requested that the legal proceedings, as far as they were aimed against their client, be abandoned and the arrest warrant against him withdrawn; the cases against both [[Erich Mielke|Mielke]] and [[Willi Stoph|Stoph]] had already been postponed due to their ill health.<ref name="Illness threatens"/> Arguing that his life expectancy was estimated to be three to six months, while the legal process was forecast to take at least two years, his lawyers questioned whether it was humane to try a dying man.<ref>{{cite news|title=Report sent to court gives Honecker short time to live|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=16 December 1992|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/16/world/report-sent-to-court-gives-honecker-short-time-to-live.html|archive-date=24 July 2016|access-date=7 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160724155213/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/16/world/report-sent-to-court-gives-honecker-short-time-to-live.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Their application was rejected on 21 December 1992 when the court concluded that, given the seriousness of the charges, no obstacle to the proceedings existed.<ref>{{cite news|title=Honecker trial to go forward|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=22 December 1992|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/22/world/honecker-trial-to-go-forward.html}}</ref>

Honecker lodged a constitutional complaint to the recently created [[Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin]], stating that the decision to proceed violated his fundamental right to human dignity, which was an overriding principle in the Constitution of Berlin, above even the state penal system and criminal justice.<ref name="Trial defence"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Quint|first=Peter E.|title=The Imperfect Union: Constitutional Structures of German Unification|url=https://archive.org/details/imperfectunion00quin_798|url-access=limited|pages=[https://archive.org/details/imperfectunion00quin_798/page/n108 96]–97|year=1997|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691086569}}</ref> On 12 January 1993, Honecker's complaint was upheld and the Berlin District Court therefore abandoned the case and withdrew their arrest warrant.<ref>{{cite news|title=Court ends Honecker trial, citing violation of 'human dignity'|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=13 January 1993|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1993/01/13/court-ends-honecker-trial-citing-violation-of-human-dignity/|access-date=28 August 2013|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074429/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-01-13/news/1993013131_1_honecker-berlin-wall-east-germany|url-status=live}}</ref> An application for a new arrest warrant was rejected on 13 January. The court also refused to commence with the trial related to the indictment of 12 November 1992, and withdrew the second arrest warrant related to these charges. After a total of 169 days Honecker was released from custody, drawing protests both from victims of the East German regime as well as German political figures.<ref name="Trial research paper"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Honecker release drawing fire in Germany|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=24 January 1993|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/world/honecker-release-drawing-fire-in-germany.html|archive-date=24 March 2014|access-date=7 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324192823/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/world/honecker-release-drawing-fire-in-germany.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Honecker flew via Brazil to [[Santiago]], Chile, to reunite with his wife and his daughter Sonja, who lived there with her son Roberto. Upon his arrival he was greeted by the leaders of the Chilean Communist and Socialist parties.<ref>{{cite news|title=Frail Honecker arrives in Santiago|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=15 January 1993|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-15-mn-1460-story.html}}</ref> In contrast, his co-defendants [[Heinz Kessler]], [[Fritz Streletz]] and Hans Albrecht were sentenced on 16 September 1993 to imprisonment of between four and seven-and-a-half years.<ref name="Trial research paper"/> On 13 April 1993 a final attempt to separate and continue the trial against Honecker in his absence was discontinued.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mielke und Honecker: Konspirationsgewohnt|newspaper=[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]]|language=de|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/autokraten-mielke-und-honecker-konspirationsgewohnt-121537.html}}</ref> Four days later, on the 66th birthday of his wife Margot, he gave a final public speech, ending with the words: "Socialism is the opposite of what we have now in Germany. For that I would like to say that our beautiful memories of the German Democratic Republic are testimony of a new and just society. And we want to always remain loyal to these things".<ref name="Das Ende"/>