The Bundestag, lower house of the West German Parliament, is expected to prolong this week the statute of limitations on the prosecution of Nazi war criminals from May 8, 1965, to 1980, following recommendations received today from the Bundestag’s legal committee.
The principle of prolongation of the cut-off date was adopted by the Bundestag 10 days ago, and referred to the legal committee for the drafting of details. The committee has recommended extension in two steps: 1) The starting date would be fixed as January 1, 1950, when West Germany became a sovereign state, instead of 1945, when World War II ended officially; 2) The statute would run for 30 years fron the 1950 date, thus setting the cut-off date as effective in 1980. The committee defeated a proposal by the opposition Social Democrats that no limitation at all be fixed on prosecutions for major war crimes.
A second bill to be brought into the Bundestag by the committee this week will give judges the authority to throw out cases against minor Nazi offenders. Both bills are to come up for second and third reading this week, and their adoption is expected.
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