Stasi man jailed for 'Carlos' link

A former senior East German secret police officer was yesterday jailed for four years for helping an associate of the international terrorist 'Carlos' carry out a 1983 bombing in West Berlin, Adrian Bridge writes from Berlin.

Helmut Voigt, who headed the 'terrorism' section of the Stasi secret police, admitted supplying the explosives used in the attack on a French cultural centre, which left one person dead and 23 injured. Mr Voigt is the first former Stasi agent to stand trial on such charges. German investigators believe the motive behind the 1983 attack was to force the release of Magdalena Kopp, the German girlfriend of 'Carlos' who was in jail in France for possessing explosives.