The West German Bundestag approved late Thursday night the 1971 Franco-German treaty on the re-trial in German courts of Nazi criminals sentenced in absentia by French courts after World War II. The treaty now goes to the Bundesrat (Upper House). No formal count was taken, but ratification was approved with the votes of the Socialist Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) against those of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Socialist Union (CSU).
The opposition parties approved of the treaty in principle, but objected to the fact that French prosecuting authorities have up to now refused to allow German courts to examine files on the Nazi criminals concerned. The opposition’s main objection, however, was that the treaty applies only to murder, but without this being stated specifically in the treaty text. The government argued that all war crimes, with the exception of murder, have now become obsolete under the statute of limitations.
Beate Klarsfeld, whose attempted kidnapping of former Paris Gestapo leader Kurt Lischka and subsequent trial in Cologne last summer helped speed up ratification, was refused entry to the Bundestag Thursday night. The Speaker’s office feared disturbances. Klarsfeld has been banned from the Bundeshaus since 1968.
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