LEIPZIG, Germany, June 24 (UPI) -- Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl won a partial ban on the release of his East German secret police files.
Kohl, who served as German chancellor from 1982 to 1998, was largely successful in his suit in a Leipzig court to keep secret the file maintained about him by the East German "Stasi" secret police, the German newspaper Die Welt reports.
Kohl's case rested on a clause protecting Germans from having improperly obtained details about their personal lives released from their Stasi files.
The ruling bans the release of any information about the former chancellor's personal life but allows purely political or professional information to be released.
The former chancellor's reputation was marred in 1999 by an improper donations scandal. He accepted responsibility for secret bank accounts and deposits.
He was asked to relinquish an honorary position in the Christian Democratic Party in 2000.
