The Reunification of Germany in October 1990 saw the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) absorbed into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) to form the modern unified country of Germany. Reunification saw numerous East German officials charged with crimes by German courts that were direct continuations of West German courts, which some considered to be victor's justice. Many low-ranking members of the Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic were charged with crimes related to "Republikflucht", with an estimated 300 to 400 deaths at the Berlin Wall and Inner German border. These border guards, known as "Todesschützen" ("death shooters"), were often convicted despite arguing they were following "Schießbefehl" ("order to fire") from superiors which instructed guards to shoot escapees that ignored two warnings to stop. The German courts argued East German border laws were so fundamentally in conflict with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which East Germany had signed and ratified, that they were not law at all but formalized injustice, and thus the soldiers ought to have disobeyed their commanding officers.