[align=left]2. The Federal Government's further observations of 31st July, 1967,
included a long and detailed list of decisions taken by the various
courts and authorities concerned during the course of the criminal
proceedings against the applicant. The Federal Government submitted
that this summary, which was based on facts communicated by the
Bavarian State Ministry of Justice, clearly revealed that the
proceedings had been considerably prolonged by the applicant's
complaints and numerous application, which included requests for the
hearing of further witnesses.

II. 1. The applicant in his observation in reply of 20th March - 6th
May, 1967, also referred to the five stages of the proceedings
mentioned by the Federal Government and commented on them as follows:
(1) Investigations by the Public Prosecutor

In this respect the applicant pointed out in particular that the Public
Prosecutor already in a letter of 13th July, 1954, to the Regional
Court of Munich referred to Dr. X, a judge at the Federal Court, as an
"important new witness" who ought to be heard. The applicant alleged
that this judge, who later was appointed a Presiding Judge
(Senatspräsident) of the Federal Court, was the same person as an
Assessor X, in the service of the ill-famed SD and the Gestapo who in
1941-1942 had interrogated Grünspan with regard to the assassination
of vom Rath. The applicant complained that the judicial authorities,
although being informed of these facts by the letter, never heard X.
during the following ten years of proceedings.

All other witnesses heard by the prosecutor, except three, could give
no decisive evidence and were only heard to delay the proceedings and
avoid involving X., which would cause a "world-wide scandal".

(2) Preliminary investigation by the Court

The applicant immediately informed the investigating judge that the
hearing of other witnesses, with a few exceptions, could be suspended
until X. had been heard. The applicant offered extensive evidence as
to the identity of X. and his own knowledge of the original Grünspan
files. The investigating judge, however, refused to record statements
by the applicant to this effect and warned him that the applicant could
expect charges of defamation if he repeated these allegations against
Senatspräsident X. in his written submissions. In order to drag out the
proceedings the investigating judge had numerous unimportant witnesses
examined with regard to "non-essential, secondary matters, but
studiously avoided hearing the all-important witness X."

(3) The trial proceedings before the Regional Court of Munich

The Court did its utmost to protract the proceedings and gain time. The
applicant lived under constant pressure during these interminable
proceedings. In particular, the Court had numerous witnesses examined
by rogatory commissions outside Munich, although these witnesses were
only remotely associated with the case and their testimony had already
been recorded by the investigating judge. The applicant had requested
that all witnesses should be heard directly by the trial court so he
would have a chance to cross-examine them and, in fact, many of the
witnesses were heard again at the trial and thus the proceedings had
been unnecessarily delayed.

(4) The appeal proceedings (Revision)

The improper proceedings of the trial court resulted in 117 points of
appeal which had to be examined carefully by the Federal Court and thus
"entailed delays and an enormous loss of time".

(5) Proceedings before the Regional Court of Augsburg

In the course of these proceedings the intent to delay became
particularly obvious. According to the applicant's lawyer the Presiding
Judge (Landgerichtsdirektor) had stated that he was due to retire and
"that as long as he remained in office he would under no circumstances
conduct these highly unpleasant proceedings". The Presiding Judge did,
however, not retire until the end of April 1963. The Court refused to
call X. as a witness and the applicant and his lawyer were even
threatened by a prosecution officer with charges of defamation if they
insisted on this witness being called.

2. On 12th August, 1967, the applicant stated in reply to the Federal
Government's further observations of 31st July, 1967, that the summary
of the proceedings against him submitted by the Government was, in
fact, misleading. The summary should properly only have listed orders
and decision by the Public Prosecutor's Office or the Courts. Such a
summary would show that during twelve years only 123 "orders or
decisions " were issued, i.e. an average of ten decisions per year,
more than half of which in no way contributed to further the criminal
proceedings. In this respect, the applicant quotes several examples of
decisions by the Regional Court which were later set aside on his
appeal.

The applicant alleges in particular the following procedural
irregularities which, in his opinion, contributed to the length of the
proceedings:

(a) In April, 1954, the applicant requested the opening of a formal
preliminary investigation (gerichtliche Voruntersuchung) by the
Regional Court of Munich but his application was refused on 22nd
January, 1955, by the Court. This decision was set aside by the
Bavarian Supreme Court (Oberstes Landesgericht) of Munich on 7th April,
1955. Thus, the proceedings had been delayed for almost a year.

(b) On 1st March, 1958, the applicant requested the investigating
judge to appoint a defence counsel. His application was refused and
this decision was upheld by the Criminal Chamber but set aside, on the
applicant's further appeal, by the Court of Appeal (Oberlandesgericht)
of Munich. As a result, the defence counsel was not appointed until
28th August, 1958.

(c) The case files were then sent to the applicant's lawyer, but the
Court omitted to set any time-limit for the return of the files and
also failed to order their return within a reasonable time. The
applicant's lawyer was thus allowed to keep the files for five months
and during this time the Court took no action with regard to the case.
In tolerating this enormous delay the Court clearly showed its
intention to retard the proceedings.

(d) In spite of the applicant's protests the investigating judge
ordered the hearing of witnesses at their residence by letters
rogatory. After the closure of the preliminary investigation the
Regional Court of Munich also had a large number of witnesses examined
at their place of residence, several of whom had already been heard
during the preliminary investigation although not under oath. These
witnesses were then only asked to confirm their previous statements and
the long time actually spent at this stage was not justified. This
delay was particularly unnecessary since the applicant had made it
clear that he wished the witnesses to be heard again at the trial in
order to be able to cross-examine them. It was obvious that the judges
wanted to delay the trial as long as possible in the hope that they by
then would have been transferred from the Criminal Chamber concerned
with the case.

(e) When the case later was referred to the Regional Court of Augsburg
for a new trial this Court resorted to similar means of delay. For this
purpose a Single Judge was commissioned to hear certain witnesses,
while other witnesses were heard by rogatory commission at their
residence in Germany or abroad. Since the applicant again requested
that all witnesses should be heard at the trial, it was obvious that
the delay caused by these hearings could have been avoided. The
principal reason was that the Presiding Judge wanted to defer the trial
until his retirement.

(f) In spite of the applicant's repeated requests, the Augsburg Court
refused to call Dr. X. as a witness. Instead, the Court incurred
further delay by asking the American Document Centre in Berlin to
submit information as to the identity of the Assessor X. who had been
in the service of the Gestapo. Following receipt of information on this
point from the Ministry of Justice more time was lost in tracing a
cousin of X., called Y., who also had worked for the Gestapo and,
according to the Prosecution, was the official concerned with the
Grünspan case. However, neither of the two cousins was ever heard as
a witness. The judges were afraid that Y., if heard under oath, might
have incriminated his cousin and the applicant's request that he should
be called as a witness was therefore rejected.[/align]