(; German for "order to fire") was the term in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) for standing orders authorizing the use of lethal force by the Border Troops to prevent (defection) at the Inner German border from 1960 to 1989. recommended guards use firearms to stop unauthorised border crossings in the direction of West Germany and procedure to conceal incidents from the public. Various orders were issued, and their instructions to prevent East Germans leaving were not officially legal until 1982 and in violation of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with an estimated 300 to 400 people having died at the Inner German border during its existence. After German Reunification in 1990, East German leader Erich Honecker was indicted by the Berlin District Court on charges of mass murder stemming from the orders, but his failing health and legal disputes over jurisdiction caused his trial to be abandoned. Schießbefehl Prescribed procedure The Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic (Grenztruppen der DDR) were the border guards of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and until October 1949 of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, tasked with preventing the mass outward migration of East Germans to the West known as Republikflucht. The issue was a major political concern for the East German government, as the idea that any citizen of communist East Germany would voluntarily defect to the capitalist West was a source of ideological embarrassment, and preventing such defections was a longstanding objective. Originally the Border Troops were not formally integrated into the regular armed forces, the National People's Army (NVA), but typically carried military-level small arms such as Kalashnikov assault rifles or SKS semiautomatic carbines. From 1945, Soviet and East German border guards were given standing orders commonly referred to as Schießbefehl ("order to fire") that instructed them to follow certain rules of engagement when encountering persons moving illegally within the border strip: First, to call out "Halt, stehenbleiben, oder ich schieße!" ("Stop, stand still or I will shoot"). Next, to fire a warning shot. Finally, if the fugitive failed to comply, to fire an aimed shot, preferably at the legs, to stop the person. The Border Troops were told to avoid shooting in the direction of the territory of West Berlin and West Germany. All occurrences at border outposts were kept secret from the general public, with each attempted or successful escape followed by