Complete abolition of the statute of limitations on German war crimes prosecutions was demanded today by the International Federation of Resistance Movement and Deportees. Candido Rosapi, of Italy, president of the organization, said he discussed the statute and matters relating to neo-Nazi manifestations in West Germany at a meeting today with Minister of Interior Ernst Benda and Dr. Kurt Ehmke, State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice.
According to Mr. Rosapi, Dr. Benda and Dr. Ehmke both agreed that the statute should be abolished and the Minister of Interior promised to submit proposals to that effect to the Bonn Government at the end of this month. Mr. Rosapi said his group opposed a mere extension of the period before the statute goes into effect. It is scheduled to become effective at the end of 1969 after which the prosecution of Nazi war criminals charged with murder will be barred. Mr. Rosapi said that if the statute stands, it would be impossible to examine all of the evidence already in hand, let alone the new evidence just turned over to West Germany by the Russians and East Germans. He said that he and the five members of his organization’s actions committee also discussed the extreme right-wing National Democratic Party and the pro-Nazi newspaper, Deutsche National and Soldaten Zeitung, with the ministry officials. They also criticized what they considered to be mild sentences meted out to convicted war criminals by German courts.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
