Former East German leader Egon Krenz will be let out of jail briefly this week to appeal a six and a half year prison term imposed on him for his role in the shooting of Germans who tried to escape to the west over the Berlin Wall.
Krenz appeal against his conviction will be before the European court of human rights Wednesday on the grounds that he was acting within the laws of the former state at the time.
Krenz, 63, who began serving his sentence at the Berlin-Ploetzensee prison in January, has been given three days' leave to attend the Strasbourg hearing.
Two of his aides, former defense minister Heinz Kessler and former deputy minister Fritz Streletz, will also appeal similar sentences imposed on them by a German court following the reunification of Germany.
Streletz received five and a half years and Kessler seven and a half.
All three will argue that their actions at the time did not infringe East German or international laws and that the post-reunification judgments went against the principle of non-retroactivity outlined in article 7.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
A former East German border-guard, condemned for killing a fugitive to the West in 1972, will also appeal. The man, who has requested anonymity, was given a 22-month suspended sentence for manslaughter.
Krenz took over from his predecessor Erich Honecker as East German leader and head of the ruling Communist party in October 1989, the month before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
On Wednesday the European court will decide whether it has jurisdiction in the affair and whether there are grounds to proceed. Its decision is not expected until early next year.
Luzius Wildhaber of Switzerland will preside with a panel of 17 judges.
Five lawyers, one British and four from Berlin, will represent the four men who will not be allowed to speak to the court -- STRASBOURG, France (AFP)
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