East Germany Calls Off Plans to Try Honecker, 3 Others

EAST BERLIN —  East Germany today dropped plans to try disgraced former Communist leader Erich Honecker and three other ousted officials for high treason, saying there is no legal basis for the charges.

However, the chief prosecutor’s office said the ailing Honecker and two of the officials remain under investigation on suspicion of massive corruption and abuse of power.

Honecker, 77, and the three other top Communist officials were members of the ruling hard-line Politburo toppled in last fall’s peaceful revolt.

Prosecutors had said earlier that Honecker, former state security chief Erich Mielke, former economics czar Guenther Mittag and ex-propaganda chief Joachim Herrmann would be indicted and put on trial this month.