After 75 years: finally pardon
Marinus van der Lubbe,
24, was beheaded in 1934 after being convicted of setting fire to the
Reichstag, an event Hitler used as a pretext to suspend civil liberties
and establish a dictatorship.
In 1967 a Berlin court
bizarrely changed the sentence to an eight-year prison term. In 1980
the same court lifted the sentence completely, a decision later
reversed by the federal court. Then in 1981 a West German court
overturned the conviction on the basis that Van der Lubbe was insane (and Gay - or is that the same thing..?),
but campaigners pushed for full state pardon arguing that he had been
convicted by a Nazi court.
24, was beheaded in 1934 after being convicted of setting fire to the
Reichstag, an event Hitler used as a pretext to suspend civil liberties
and establish a dictatorship.
In 1967 a Berlin court
bizarrely changed the sentence to an eight-year prison term. In 1980
the same court lifted the sentence completely, a decision later
reversed by the federal court. Then in 1981 a West German court
overturned the conviction on the basis that Van der Lubbe was insane (and Gay - or is that the same thing..?),
but campaigners pushed for full state pardon arguing that he had been
convicted by a Nazi court.
It took a special law in 1998 to make the full pardon possible but it is unclear why another 10 years went by before it was granted.
