BERLIN - A Berlin court convicted two former East German border guards of manslaughter for the 1962 killing of Peter Fechter, a mason who was shot and bled to death at the Berlin Wall as his cries for help went unheeded.
The two guards, who said they were sorry for shooting Fechter, were given sentences of probation for 20 and 21 months. Fechter was hit in the pelvis while trying to climb over the Berlin Wall near an Allied checkpoint. He called in vain for help for about 50 minutes before he died.