Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Öz<strong>et</strong>i<br />
,<br />
E u R<br />
A German court judges Tehran guilty of mur<strong>de</strong>r, s<strong>et</strong>ting off a crisis in Europe's relati<br />
By JAMES WALSH<br />
HE CASE TOOK 13 MONTHS OF PREiminary<br />
investigations followed<br />
by a trial of 31/2 years. It entailed<br />
246 sessions of court, 176witnesses<br />
and documentary evi<strong>de</strong>nce<br />
ranging from secr<strong>et</strong> intelligence<br />
files to tapes of Iranian television<br />
broadcasts. That the two lead <strong>de</strong>fendants<br />
.would be convicted was never seriously in<br />
doubt, but the question of larger, more remote<br />
guilt hung over the proceedings right<br />
up to the end. So when a five-judge tribunal<br />
in Berlin <strong>de</strong>livered its verdict last<br />
week, it was a stunner. Without mincing<br />
words, the court found that the atrocious<br />
killings of four Iranian exiles at Berlin's.<br />
Mykonos Restaurant in 1992 had been or<strong>de</strong>red<br />
by "the highest state levels" in Iran.<br />
"The Iranian political lea<strong>de</strong>rship was<br />
responsible," <strong>de</strong>clared Judge Frithjof Kubsch,<br />
presi<strong>de</strong>nt of the tribunal. That one<br />
sentence vindicated all the time and care<br />
taken by German prosecutors, for it established<br />
the first legal, well-weighed con<strong>de</strong>mnation<br />
of the Islamic. Republic for<br />
sponsorship of terror abroad. Even as Iranian<br />
exiles danced and cheered outsi<strong>de</strong> the<br />
courthouse, Kubscn's judgment <strong>de</strong>alt a<br />
body blow to the policy of ten<strong>de</strong>r treatment<br />
exten<strong>de</strong>d to Iran by Germany and, officially,<br />
the European Union as a whole. Hunkering<br />
down in a crisis mo<strong>de</strong>, the German<br />
Foreign. Ministry termed the Mykonos<br />
mur<strong>de</strong>rs "a flagrant breach of international<br />
law." Bonn recalled its ambassador to<br />
Tehran and expelled four Iranian diplomats,<br />
moves that were matched exactly by<br />
the Iranian government in calling the court<br />
<strong>de</strong>cision a "shameless act." More ominously<br />
for Iran, Germany suspen<strong>de</strong>d its policy<br />
of friendly engagement "for the foreseeable<br />
future," suggesting that Europe may<br />
now edge closer to America's policy of isolating<br />
Tehran as an outlaw regime.<br />
Different slants on Iran by the U.S. and<br />
Europe have pricked the Atlantic partnership<br />
for several years. However loath Bonn<br />
was to change its policy, though, it could<br />
not escape the court's logic. A painstaking<br />
para<strong>de</strong> of evi<strong>de</strong>nce established beyond<br />
doubt that Tehran's lea<strong>de</strong>rship had whis-<br />
GREAT DAY FOR DISSIDENTS: Outsi<strong>de</strong> the Berlin court, Iranian exiles celebrate a verdict that<br />
tled up a gruesome act of assassination on a convention of the Socialist International.<br />
German soil. Said Ruprecht Polenz, a se- Sa<strong>de</strong>gh Sharafkandi, the party's general<br />
nior member of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's secr<strong>et</strong>ary, was dining in a back room of the<br />
Christian Democratic Union: "Sending hit Mykonos with eight other oppositionists.<br />
teams into another country and executing Just before midnight, two men with autothe<br />
opposition people there is barbaric and matic guns burst in screaming in Farsi,<br />
shows that Iran does not respect basic ''You sons of whores!" They sprayed more<br />
law." The E.U.'s 14 other countries, as well than 30 rounds into Sharafkandi, two colas<br />
Finland and Australia, were ready to re- leagues and a translator as others dived for<br />
call their envoys to)ran also. cover: One diner who escaped harm was<br />
The assassinations occurred on Sept. Parviz Dastmalchi, now 48, an exiled Iran-<br />
17, 1992, as <strong>de</strong>legates from the Democratic ian author and political analyst who lives in<br />
Party of Kurdistan-iran were in Berlin for Berlin. "!twas terrible," he says. "We knew<br />
TIME, APRIL 21, 1997<br />
268