BERLIN, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The last planned Berlin Wall trial began Tuesday, with four former East German officers accused in the deaths of four young men killed trying to escape.
The former officers, ages 63 to 71, are charged with being accessories to manslaughter, the online version of the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reports.
The case centers on the deaths of four young would-be defectors, who were killed by anti-personnel mines in the no man's land abutting the Berlin Wall. The former officers are accused of having been responsible for the mining and maintenance of that area.
"The consequences of the mining could not have remained hidden from them," German prosecutor Bernhard Jahns said.
The accused will deliver their defense Sept. 24. A fifth former officer was released from the case when he was ruled unfit to stand trial.
