Dr. Ewald Bucher, the West German Justice Minister, reaffirmed today his opposition to any extension of the statute of limitations for prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
He contended it would be better to put enough lawyers and public prosecutors on the task of checking still unprosecuted offenses before the deadline expired next May 8. He added that this was the general view of the Cabinet which, on November II, said it could not extend the statute on constitutional grounds.
However, Gunther von Hase, the West German press spokesman, said earlier this week that a new situation would develop if too much material on unprosecuted criminals came in to be processed before the deadline. This was generally interpreted as preparing the way for the Government to retreat from its stand that the law could not be changed.
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