E/CN.4/1996/72 page 8 27. The German Government also made observation on certain passages (paras. 144-148 and 150) of the Special Rapporteur’s report to the General Assembly at its fiftieth session (A/50/476); those observations are reproduced below: "The accounts of criminal acts in Germany in the Special Rapporteur’s report are partly incorrect, incomplete or misleading. For example, the description of the case of arson in Mellendorf on 8 January 1995 is not consistent with the facts. The fire was actually caused by a technical defect. A politically motivated criminal act or terrorist attack can definitely be ruled out. The fire in mobile homes in Arsberg on 2 February 1995 was started by the occupants themselves to show their dissatisfaction with their living conditions. "Some of the report’s statistics require correction. The percentage of cases solved in Germany is higher than as stated in the report. It increased from 23.8 per cent in 1993 to 33.5 per cent in 1994. The Rapporteur’s list of banned extreme right-wing organizations is incomplete. Since 1992, five have been banned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and six by the interior ministries of the Länder. "The information on German criminal procedure and especially on the Priem case is inaccurate. Arnulf Priem was convicted by the Berlin regional court on 23 May 1995 not merely for illegally possessing weapons and racist propaganda material but for disparaging the State and constitutional institutions, using symbols of former Nazi organizations and keeping objects which contain such symbols, and for forming an armed gang and violating the Weapons Act. He was given a prison term of three years and six months and the judgement is final." 2/ 28. The Special Rapporteur would nevertheless like to make some remarks on the handling of the information he receives or seeks, in particular the allegations of racist incidents. 29. The German Government has made observations which, at its request, have been brought to the attention of the General Assembly (A/50/476, para. 16). The German authorities expressed regret that no adversary procedure had been instituted making it possible to obtain the views of Governments on the racist or xenophobic incidents reported by non-governmental organizations or by certain Governments. 30. The Special Rapporteur would like to reiterate the observations he made in paragraph 17 of his report in document A/50/476 of 25 September 1995: "The Special Rapporteur wishes to draw attention to the administrative and financial constraints (relatively short deadlines for the preparation and submission of reports to the Commission and to the General Assembly, consultations with Governments, administrative secretariat and translation of documents ...) which make such a procedure impracticable in the immediate future. None of the recommendations about the means required for the proper execution of the mandate have been followed up. For the time being, the Special Rapporteur is trying to the best of his ability to inform Governments

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