E. German Border Guard Defects After Shooting Partner
BAMBERG, West Germany — An East German border guard shot a comrade while patrolling the West German frontier and slipped through the Iron Curtain into Bavaria, authorities said today.
The 19-year-old border guard asked asylum in Bavaria after shooting the other patrolman Thursday. A Bavarian prosecutor interrogated the guard and ordered him to appear in court for a preliminary hearing.
East Germany said the wounded guard was in critical condition and it will ask West Germany to arrest the other guard, who was not identified, and extradite him to East Germany.
In the past, Eastern border guards who shot other guards to escape were tried in West Germany. Eastern guards usually are assigned to the border in pairs so one can watch the other. At times both flee.
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