Günther Kleiber is a former communist

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 politician from the German Democratic Republic

German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

 (GDR). He was a member of the politburo

Politburo

Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...

 of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany

Socialist Unity Party of Germany

The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...

 (SED) from 1984 to 1989, and a member of the GDR government as minister for machinery, agricultural machinery and vehicle construction from 1973 to 1986. He was also a member of the SED central committee and the People's Chamber since 1967. He was Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1971 to 1989. From 1986 to 1989, he was the representative of the GDR to COMECON

Comecon

The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance , 1949–1991, was an economic organisation under hegemony of Soviet Union comprising the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of communist states elsewhere in the world...

.

Kleiber resigned all his offices on November 8, 1989, the day before the fall of the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...

. He was expelled from the party on December 3. An investigation for abuse of power and corruption was suspended in May, 1990. After his release from custody, he was unemployed.

In 1997, Kleiber was convicted for his role in the crimes of the GDR regime, and sentenced to three years in prison. The verdict was upheld by the Federal Supreme Court in November 1999, and Kleiber reported to a prison in Berlin to begin serving his sentence on January 18, 2000. After a request for clemency, where he expressed his regret for his actions as a member of the communist regime and condemned the GDR, he was, along with Günter Schabowski

Günter Schabowski

Günter Schabowski is a former official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , the ruling party during most of the existence of the German Democratic Republic...

, pardon

Pardon

Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...

ed by Governing Mayor Eberhard Diepgen

Eberhard Diepgen

Eberhard Diepgen is a German politician of the CDU. He studied law at the Free University of Berlin. He was mayor of West Berlin from 1984 to 1989 and a reunited Berlin from 1991 to 2001.-References:...

 (CDU

Christian Democratic Union (Germany)

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

) and released from prison on September 6 the same year.