1997 - Egon Krenz, East Germany’s last hardline Communist leader, was whisked off to jail after being sentenced to six and a half years for the deaths of refugees trying to escape over the Berlin Wall. A Berlin court found the 60-year-old Krenz guilty of manslaughter for four killings during the 1980s at the infamous Cold War barrier that divided the city between 1961 and 1989. Even though Krenz did not pull the trigger, the court said the successor to Erich Honecker was nonetheless responsible because he shaped the shoot-to-kill orders that were carried out by border guards who gunned down at least 263 people. “I won’t give up!” Krenz called defiantly when a supporter in the back of the courtroom shouted “All the best, Egon!”.
Other important events
1580 - Spain invades Portugal, conquers it and keeps it for more than 80 years.
1825 - Uruguay declares independence from Brazil.
1875 - British swimmer Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim across the English Channel.
1883 - France obtains protectorate over Annam and Tonkin in Indochina.
1916 - The National Park Service is established in the USA.
1941 - British and Soviet troops invade pro-German Iran.
1944 - A Free French division, racing from Normandy, liberates Paris from the Germans.
1950 - American tennis player Althea Gibson becomes the first black player to compete internationally.
1973 - UN Security Council condemns Israel for “premeditated air attack” on Lebanese villages.
1979 - Somalia adopts Constitution.
1980 - Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
1984 - The 36-hour hijack drama of an Indian Airlines plane ends at Dubai International Airport.
1995 - Hamed Buhaleeba is killed in an accident during the World Class 2 and 3 powerboat championships in Isle of Wight.
1997 - Egon Krenz, East Germany’s last hardline Communist leader, is sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail for the deaths of refugees trying to escape over the Berlin Wall.
1998 - Seven Cuban-Americans are indicted by a federal court panel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on charges of conspiracy to murder Cuban President Fidel Castro.
2002 - The roof of a building under construction in Jebel Ali, Dubai, collapses, killing eight workers and injuring 19
2006 - Uganda agrees to a conditional truce with the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army to end a 19-year insurgency in the north.
2011 - Michael Schumacher marks his 20th Formula 1 anniversary.
2012 - The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong died at the age of 82.
2014 - A stampede at a Hindu temple in Chitrakoot, India, killing at least 10 people.
2015 - A series of explosions at gas storage facility in Herat, Afghanistan, killing 11 people.
