GERMANY: Ms Carola Möllemann-Appelhoff took the unusual step of using her husband's newspaper death notice to accuse his former political colleagues of destroying his reputation and career, writes Derek Scally from Berlin.
"Will those people account for how they tried in an unfair way to destroy not only the person of Jürgen M. Möllemann but also his political life's work, for which he fought with body and soul for 30 years," asked Mr Möllemann's wife and three daughters in a death notice yesterday.
Mr Möllemann (57) was deputy leader of the liberal Free Democratic Party, but stepped down last year embroiled in scandal and shunned by his former party colleagues.
Last Thursday, as investigators raided his homes and business in an inquiry into tax fraud and other financial irregularities, he apparently committed suicide during a parachute jump.
His widow is believed to have returned opened condolence letters sent by former FDP colleagues, including the party leader, Mr Guido Westerwelle.
The FDP marked the "tragic event" that took the life of their former deputy leader in a separate death notice, acknowledging the "great successes" but also "great setbacks" of Mr Möllemann's life.
Investigators in the western city of Münster are still examining Mr Möllemann's parachute, but have said there was no sign of tampering.
Fellow parachutists told how the politician came apart from his main parachute and that his reserve parachute failed to open, suggesting Mr Möllemann himself switched off the automatic trigger.
Mr Möllemann was a former economics and education minister who served for a short time as vice-chancellor under Dr Helmut Kohl.