HL Deb 24 July 1978 vol 395 cc645-6

2.57 p.m.

Lord BROCKWAY

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will draw the attention of the appropriate authority to the action of the Government of the German Democratic Republic in sentencing Nico Hubner, a conscientious objector to military service, to a term of imprisonment of five years while he was resident in the demilitarised zone of Berlin.

The MINISTER of STATE, FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS (Lord Goronwy-Roberts)

My Lords, noble Lords will have seen the reports of what President Carter said in Berlin on 15th July about this case. He publicly reaffirmed the well-known allied position on the demilitarised status of Berlin and explained that allied displeasure in connection with this case had been made clear to both the Soviet Union and the GDR. The British Government fully associate themselves with what President Carter had to say on this matter.

Lord BROCKWAY

My Lords, while very much welcoming President Carter's intervention, may I ask the Minister whether, in addition to repudiating the authority of conscience as a human right, this case, of a boy aged 22 sentenced to five years' imprisonment, does not repudiate the status of Berlin as a demilitarised area? Recognising that the Soviet Union has a veto on this matter, can it not be urged, if it is serious in desiring détente, that it should use its influence for the liberation of this boy?

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

Certainly, my Lords. Our protests and the very strongly worded statement made on behalf of the three allied signatories of the Quadripartite Agreement by the President of the United States are designed precisely to do that. The position is that East Berlin is part of Greater Berlin, which has a special status under the Quadripartite Agreement and is part of a demilitarised zone. Nevertheless, because of Soviet obstruction, the allied kommandatura, which consists of the representatives in Berlin of the three allied Powers, has for many years been able to implement its decisions only in the Western sectors. As a result, infringements of the Quadripartite Agreement have continued over the years at the instigation of the Soviet Union and the agency of the GDR. This is one of the latest examples of that.