For a number of years, many former members of the GFP were able to return to a normal life, but this changed for some, as in April 1966, a trial was conducted in Vitebsk against four former Soviet POWs who had previously been assigned to a Geheime Feldpolizei; they had apparently taken part in the execution of "Soviet citizens" from 1941 through 1942 in Nevel, Polotsk, Smolensk, and Shumilino (Vitebsk oblast).[25] Ten more former members of the Geheime Feldpolizei were brought to trial in Gomel during November and December 1967 and were alleged to be living in (then) West Germany; another trial was conducted against six members of the 57th Police Battalion during which ninety four witnesses appeared and named the German officers who committed the crimes.[25] In 1973, an additional trial against seven members of the same battalion was conducted, and while no explicit crimes against Jews were mentioned, the defendants "were accused of having exterminated peaceful Soviet citizens."[25]