Court spokeswoman Margarete Noetzel told Hina on Thursday judge Bernd von Heintschel-Heinegg decided to adjourn the trial and release Prates due to a standstill in the collection of evidence and interrogation of witnesses.
The standstill was primarily caused by courts in Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro which failed to submit to the German state prosecution and court the documents requested and make it possible to interview witnesses, said Noetzel, adding that judge Heintschel-Heinegg had assessed the communication with the judiciary in Zagreb as very slow.
The judge explained his decision to release Prates with constitutional provisions referring to the duration of a suspect's stay in custody.
The judge ruled that it was impossible to estimate at present how long the witness interviews and collection of new evidence might take and that Prates could not be kept in custody indefinitely. He added that the crime Prates was accused of was a capital crime with no statute of limitations but recalled that the crime was committed 23 years ago.
Prates made a commitment to report to the authorities in case he changed his address.
The trial, which began in March and was to have ended today, came to a standstill a number of times because witnesses from Croatia did not turn up.
Prates was arrested in July 2005 on suspicion that he helped prepare the Djurekovic murder in 1983. The German state prosecution suspects Djurekovic was killed by members of the then Yugoslav State Security Service (SDS).
During the trial, Prates admitted to having cooperated with the Yugoslav intelligence, notably the then chief of the Croatian SDS branch, Josip Perkovic, but denied any involvement in Djurekovic's death.
Last autumn, the German judiciary issued an international warrant for Perkovic in connection with the Djurekovic murder.