European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday june 12, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 9 trial starts in Libya  Plant scandal Jurgen Hippenstiel Imhausen covers his face at he enters court monday. Mannheim West Germany apr the main suspect in the scandal involving West German assistance in building an alleged Poison  Plant in Libya went on trial monday charged with providing millions of dollars of materials to the libyans. The scandal erupted in december 1988, with allegations of massive West German Aid in construction of the Plant in the town of rata South of Tripoli. West German government officials at first denied any of the country a companies were involved leading to serious tensions Between Washington and Bonn. Officials later acknowledged that allegations made by . Officials were True. The primary figure in the scandal is Jurgen Hippenstiel Imhausen who headed the company that allegedly was the key supplier of equipment and expertise. The 49-year-old defendant has been held in prison for the last 14 months. A 100-Page indictment alleged that Hippenstiel Imhausen played a leading role in the project from 1984 to 1988, when he headed the Imhausen Cherie chemical company in the southwestern town of Lahr. In his opening arguments prosecutor Hans Heiko Klein said Hippenstiel Imhausen had delivered plans and documents As Well As provided material valued at $12 million. The primary allegations against the defendant revolve around violations of West Germany a Export Laws designed to prevent any participation in such illegal projects abroad. Klein accused Hippenstiel Imhausen of buying equipment from some of West Germany a largest companies under the pretext of sending it to a pharmaceutical Plant in Hong Kong. Instead the Materi liberian officials rebels travel to peace talks site Alger a k Africa Susan Monrovia Liberia apr government and rebel negotiators headed for neighbouring Sierra Leone on monday for talks aimed at ending a civil War that has closed in on the capital prompting people to flee by the thousands. Witnesses said rebels won control sunday of the country a International Airport which had been closed for a week by fighting. They were also reported to have recaptured most of an adjacent rubber Plantation. In the capital of Monrovia 35 Miles to the West foreigners converged by the hundreds on a Small Airfield on sunday and got evacuation flights out of the West african nation. The rebels trying to oust the government of president Samuel Doe control most of Liberia a country of 2.5 million people. The 5 la month old civil War has left More than 1,000 dead. Witnesses said the rebels had on sunday taken smell no taste a Village that had a Small army Garrison a few Hundred Yards from the Roberts Field International Airport runway putting the Airport under their control. The villages name dates Back to world War ii when . Soldiers were camped at the Airport and villagers nearby could smell a but never tasted a their cooking. On monday peace talks were to begin at the . Embassy in Freetown Sierra Leone. The rebels led by former Doe Al was sent to Libya said Klein. A the defendant knew that through his actions he could cause serious damage to the relations of the Federal Republic of Germany with other countries a Klein said. The trial is expected to last until the end of this month or Early july. When the scandal first broke Hippenstiel Imhausen boldly proclaimed he was not involved in any illegal transactions despite documentation coming from Washington. On monday the once confident businessman appeared Pale and thin telling the court his preventive detention had Quot reduced him in every  the defendant in 1972 married the eldest daughter of firm founder Karlheinz Imhausen and added his wife a surname to his own name Hippen still. Aide Charles Taylor and the government were sending delegations. The liberian Council of churches was to mediate. People fleeing the fighting outside the capital said sunday that the rebels held most of the american managed Bridge Stone Firestone rubber Plantation during the weekend. The rebels appeared to have Cut off some of300 government troops who had been sent to recapture the worlds largest rubber Plantation. Witnesses said soldiers appeared to have been driven into two of the plantations Many compounds. With them were thousands of refugees who fled fighting farther North. The United states arranged to Fly 362 people from the Small Spriggs Payne Airfield aboard three chartered air Guinea flights to the Ivory coasts capital Abidjan and then on monday to Charleston . A a we re tired we re Happy to be out but we left a lot of friends Back there so we re sorry for them a said Johnny Connelly a 26-year-old missionary from Madison ga., who arrived in Abidjan on sunday with his wife Janice and their 2-year-old son Josiah. Rosalind Towe put her 3-year-old daughter a Anuhea an american aboard a flight out of Monrovia. Although the child is american Towe is liberian and could not Board the plane. A it is better if she leaves a she said. A if i have to run for my life i can to run with  file Britain a Crown jewels were submerged in a Pond at Windsor Castle during world War ii a London newspaper reported  jewels hidden in Pond paper reports London apr the most precious gems among Britain a Crown jewels were hidden in a Lake at Windsor Castle during world War ii to keep them out of German hands if the country was invaded a newspaper reported sunday. The sunday Telegraph said the Only people who knew of the hiding place were King George i who chose it and sir Owen Morshead his librarian. The King father of Queen Elizabeth ii died in 1952, and Morshead died in 1977. The newspaper said that in 1940, when a German invasion was anticipated the King ordered the Royal jewellers to take the gems from the Tower of London to Windsor Castle about 20 Miles West of London. The King and Morshead then wrenched the most important gems out of their settings with pliers and other tools provided by a chauffeur the report said. A the gems were then wrapped in Cotton Wool placed in a tin and submerged in one of the lakes at  the sunday Telegraph said it had discovered that the facts were revealed in 1972 in a Book that was never translated from  makes offer of Aid to soviet Union a Boonup a West German foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher uttered the soviet Union on sunday economic and financial cooperation to help president Mikhail Gorbachev a Reform program. I offer on the eve of a trip to the soviet Union to persuade foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze to drop is objections to nato membership for a unified Germany. The ministry said Genscher and Shevardnadze would have an exhaustive discussion of the a foreign aspects of German Unity a whether Germany should be Neutral As the soviet Union wants or a nato member As the West advocates a at the six Power talks on unification. The second session of the foreign ministers of the two Germany and the four world War ii victors with special rights in Germany a the soviet Union United states Britain and France a will take place june 22 in East Berlin. To prepare for the monday meeting in the soviet City of Brest Genscher conferred sunday with Chancellor Helmut Kohl at Kohls Home in Ogger sheim. The Bonn foreign ministry statement said Genscher stresses that the West is aware of the great problems arising when slates with a planned Economy convert to a Market Economy. A the Federal Republic of Germany therefore is ready for comprehensive economic and financial cooperation in the knowledge that it is investing in a common european future with extensive cooperation and peaceful Competition i  of Covino