The Hindu : International : Stasi files: setback to Kohl

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 25, 2004

International

International

Stasi files: setback to Kohl

Berlin: The former German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, suffered a setback on Wednesday night when a court ruled that thousands of secret documents on him compiled by the Stasi, East Germany's notorious secret police, should be released. The federal court said files relating to his private life — many of them based on information from illegal phone taps — should remain classified. But the court said the archives dealing with his political activities could now be released. The files are believed to shed light on a damaging corruption scandal which has haunted him since shortly after his defeat in 1998 by Gerhard Schroeder. Mr. Kohl, who recently published the first instalment of his memoirs, admitted secretly accepting illegal contributions to his conservative Christian Democratic party. He has refused, however, to name the benefactors who gave him the money.

— Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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