Federal prosecutors informed the German parliament yesterday that they intend to investigate the Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, for alleged perjury.
In a letter to the parliamentary president, Mr Wolfgang Thierse, prosecutors in Krankfurt said they had received complaints that Mr Fischer (52) perjured himself in testimony he gave to a terrorist murder trial last month.
If the lower house of parliament does not object, the investigation can begin next week. If the investigation leads to formal charges, parliament can vote to lift Mr Fischer's parliamentary immunity.
A spokesman for Mr Fischer said the Foreign Minister would welcome any investigation as a way to clear his name, tarnished in recent weeks by a steady drip of revelations about his left-wing militant past. "We want a preliminary investigation [and] view this opportunity with great calm," a spokesman said. He dismissed any question of such a perjury investigation a month ago when questioned by The Irish Times.
On January 16th Mr Fischer appeared as a character witness at the trial of a former associate, terrorist Mr Hans Joachim Klein, convicted of murder last Thursday in connection with a 1975 attack on an OPEC meeting in Vienna that left three people dead.
Mr Fischer has admitted he was a left-wing militant in the 1970s but said under oath at the trial that he never had any contact with members of the violent Red Army Faction (RAF). A number of people have reportedly complained to prosecutors that this is untrue.
Mr Fischer admitted after his court appearance that he may have had contact with one RAF member, Ms Margit Schiller. His admission came shortly after a German news magazine printed a claim from Ms Schiller that she had lived in Mr Fischer's apartment for a time in the 1970s.
Mr Fischer and fellow Green Party member, the environment minister, Mr Juergen Trittin, have been under fire since their revolutionary past lives came back to haunt them last month.
Mr Fischer has so far resisted calls from the conservative opposition to resign.
Two weeks ago the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, took the unprecedented step of publicly criticising the Springer newspaper group for running what he called a "sustained campaign" against Mr Fischer, one of Germany's most popular politicians and one of Mr Schroder's most valuable ministers.
