§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) whether he will give details of the Berlin legal authorities' consultations with him before deciding to prosecute Mr. John Sprange and another person for flying a hot air balloon into East Berlin;
(2) whether the British Government have helped Mr. Sprange retrieve his hot air balloon from East Berlin;
(3) how long the Berlin authorities took to decide to prosecute Mr. Sprange.
§ Mr. RentonA British representative asked the Soviet authorities in Berlin twice last year for the balloon to be returned. There was no response. Further approaches to the Soviet authorities were made on 24 and 31 October 1984, and on 7 November.
The Berlin prosecutor applied to the Allied Kommandatura on 11 November 1983 for permission for the German courts to exercise jurisdiction with respect to the alleged violation of the law. On 30 November 1983 the Legal Committee of the Allied Kommandatura granted permission. The Berlin legal authorities then proceeded with the prosecution.