Stoph is freed in Berlin

Friday 14 August 1992 23:02 BST

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BERLIN (AFP) - Willi Stoph, the former East German prime minister, was freed yesterday from the Berlin prison where he had been held since May 1991, facing trial for his alleged role in the killing of 49 people attempting to flee from the country, legal sources said.

A Berlin court said it had decided to free Mr Stoph - the long-serving right-hand man of Erich Honecker, the former East German leader - for 'health reasons'. He was head of the East German government 1970-73 and resumed the post from 1976 until 7 November, 1989, two days before the Berlin Wall came down.

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