Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990 TAG: 9003270024
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: EAST BERLIN LENGTH: Short
Meanwhile, state prosecutors dropped treason charges against toppled Communist leader Erich Honecker and three top aides, including the former chief of the reviled "Stasi" security apparatus.
Social Democratic leader Ibrahim Boehme told a news conference that he was stepping aside as head of the opposition party and would not take his seat as a parliamentary deputy until he could clear his name.
Boehme denied a report by the respected West German news weekly Der Spiegel that he was a longtime Stasi informant.
His self-imposed suspension appeared to further stall the 400-member Parliament's attempts to form a ruling coalition eight days after the country's first free elections.
The 85,000-member Stasi has been largely dismantled since November's peaceful revolution, but East Germans are demanding accountability from those who worked for one of the Cold War's most chillingly effective spy agencies.
Honecker and his former Stasi chief, Erich Mielke, still face charges of corruption and misuse of power.
The most likely candidate for prime minister, Lothar de Maiziere, is also fighting rumors that he informed for the security police.
His party won despite an election-eve scandal which prompted the resignation of an ally, Wolfgang Schnur. Schnur admitted that he had been a paid Stasi informant.
by CNB