Dear Mrs. Nill and Mrs. Konur,
As already announced in our letter from the 22 December 2000, we asked the headquarters of the British armed forces in Germany for their comment with regard to the case of the two soldiers, Mr Mark Wright and Mr James Fisher. On the basis of the information now available, I would like to inform you that both soldiers were released from prison in the year 1998 in the course of an amnesty programme and are currently stationed in Germany. According to the British forces, the amnesty programme was carried out in connection with the so-called “Good Friday’s Agreement” between the governments of the U.K. and Ireland as well as various Northern Irish parties dated 10 April 1998, which contains the framework conditions for a peaceful settlement of the Northern Ireland conflict.
Regardless of the political evaluation of this case, a removal or expulsion of the two soldiers cannot be based on German law or international agreements.
According to the stationing agreement dated 23 October 1954, Great Britain is entitled to station troops in Germany.
The legal framework conditions of this stationing, including the rights of the country of deployment, are laid down in the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (NTS) and the additional agreement to the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (ZA/NTS). In accordance with NTS Art. II Subs. 5 1st Sentence in connection with ZA/NTS Art. VIII Subs. 3, the German authorities in charge may submit a formal request to remove individual members of the armed forces of the stationing state if the continued presence of the person in question would actually jeopardise public security or public order at that particular moment.
However, the known facts do not contain any indication that public security or public order are jeopardised. In particular, German law has not been infringed upon if a foreign offender committed an offence abroad and was validly convicted there. The Federal Republic of Germany is generally entitled to prosecute any members of the armed forces of the deploying state only if an offence was committed in Germany (NTS Art. VII Subs. 1 b). A potential jeopardy of public security and order does not constitute sufficient cause for invoking ZA/NTS Art. 8.
Therefore, the preconditions for a formal request of removal are in fact lacking.
Nevertheless, we have forwarded a copy of your letter from the 4 December 2000 addressed to the Federal Minister, Mr Scharping, as well as this reply to the office responsible which is the Foreign Office, together with the request to verify whether, and if so, which diplomatic measures should be taken, in particular, in view of the protection of human rights in Europe.
Yours sincerely,
sd. Saalfeld
Dr. Saalfeld