an investigation by us government inspectors has warned of dangerous overcrowding at immigration detention centres in texas near the southern border. it comes as democratic members of congress travelled to the border to see the conditions for themselves. a report was released by the department of homeland security's inspector general showing what conditions look like in the rio grande valley. the chinese government has called for a zero tolerance approach to protesters in hong kong. as the clean up begins after pro—democracy demonstrators stormed parliament and ransacked the building, beijing has condemned monday's protests as an "undisguised challenge by violent offenders". hong kong's badly damaged parliament building remains cordoned off.

now on bbc news it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, from berlin. i'm stephen sackur. when this infamous wall was breached, 30 years ago, the darkest secrets of the east german police state were soon exposed. among them, the systematic doping of thousands of young athletes to make them into world—beaters, regardless of the damage to their health. now, one of those victims is my guest today, former sprinter, ines geipel. now, she has been fighting for justice for those who were doped for decades. others chose to remain silent. why did she opt to speak out? theme music plays.

ines geipel, welcome to hardtalk. let us go back to the beginning and tell me how you, as a child born in east germany — yourfamily raised you in dresden — how you, as a girl, became involved in the abuse of hormones, the doping scandal in east germany?

obviously you were lied to. what did your coaches tell you, when they presented you with these blue pills, what did they say they were, and what were they for?

the drug you were administered — and we now know because it is all written about in detailed stasi files, so we have the records — you received, like so many other young talented athletes, you received turinabol, which was this hormone, which so many different young people took. it is for many people hard to believe that you did not know that you were receiving an illegal drug. you were 17, then in your early 20s when you were still taking it. surely you had some thoughts that this was notjust a vitamin, it was something more, after all, your body was changing.

what impact do you believe these drugs had upon you? how was your body changing?

you keep talking about the system, and you have described what happened to you and so many other young athletes as a "sick experiment" run by a regime which had no interest in your health, but simply wanted to be the greatest sporting nation in the world for political reasons. you've said "that is sick, they stole my childhood". from the point of view of the gdr, the east german socialist republic, it worked. they won — i'm looking at the record — they won hundreds of gold medals. in fact, only third behind the united states and the soviet union in terms of their haul of olympic golds between 1968 and 1988. do you think, for them, the programme was working?

you...

it's interesting to me that in 1984 you were part of the club relay team, from jena, in east germany, which won the world record for the 4x100 metre relay. and you afterwards, years afterwards, when all of this came out into the open, said that you wanted your name deleted from that record. why did you say that?

your personal story became ever darker because, in 1984, at the height of your athletics career, you decided you wanted to escape east germany. i think you had fallen in love with a mexican athlete, and you made plans to leave east germany. the authorities learned of your plan and, ultimately, you were required to undergo a very serious operation, a stomach operation, which left you with long—term health problems. it killed your athletics career. you have suggested that it was done deliberately to crush your ambition to leave the country. do you have any evidence to prove that?

what about your father in all of this? we know from the files, that your father was in the stasi, the east german secret police. even if you did not know it when you were a child, he was in the stasi. do you believe he colluded with the authorities in what happened to you?

but do you believe he colluded in this determination to crush you, physically and mentally?

after the berlin wall came down, and the unification of germany, you became one of the leading voices speaking for all of the hundreds, actually thousands, of young east german athletes who were part of this doping programme. tell me what kind of physical and mental problems these people have had in the years since they were part of the doping scheme.

what about you ? forgive me for a personal question, but you are not able to have children, and do you believe that is directly connected to the drugs you were required to take in the sports programme in east germany?

in that case, and given what you have said about the reasons that you were given that surgery, do you feel that the east german state robbed you of an important part of your life?

what about accountability and punishment for those responsible for this? you know, we've talked a lot about the east german state, but there are individuals. a couple of east german doctors were put on trial. they were found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to athletes, such as yourself, and you and others have been over the years awarded some compensation, i think amounting to tens of thousands of euros. does that, to you, represent any form of justice?

what do you make of those few east german athletes who deny much of what you have said? i mean, there is one in particular, marlies gohr, who was a contemporary of yours — i believe she ran with you in that greatjena relay team that broke the record in 1984 — and she says, "the truth is ines geipel was a nobody. she was nothing. she was never on the east german national team. she only was in our club relay for a time,

and now she wants to gain a high profile by saying all of this." how do you respond to that? ijust wonder what is it, do you think, that motivates people like marlies gohr and the other great sprinters, like marita koch and renate stecher, who say that they did not take drugs, that their records were genuine, that they had talent, they were great athletes, and that what you have said and done in recent years simply delegitimises and undermines them?

in recent years, you have written very interestingly about the connections between this abuse, this doping, that was systematic in east germany, and the deeper traumas that people in the east have experienced. as you have said in your own writing, that people in the east, families, have never really talked about what it meant to live under successive dictatorships — the nazis and then the communists. people, you say, don't realise how traumatised people in the east have been. do you think that is relevant

when we talk about what happened in east germany, and the way in which it has been dealt with since german unification? do you think the west hasn't been good at understanding the east? i mean, because in politics today in germany, we see that, in the east, there is very strong support for far—right

anti—immigrant parties, stronger than in most regions of western germany. we see that hate crimes, frankly, are disproportionately in the east rather than in the west of germany. is there a lack of understanding, a lack of sympathy and empathy?

you make it sound as though the east, the communities, the families in the east of germany, haven't found happiness in the unified germany — that many in the east remain, frankly, bitter, feel neglected, and are unhappy.

let me end by bringing it back to where we began. when you watch sports today, do you in your heart feel that many of those who are winning at the top, whether it be athletics, whether it be other sports, such as cycling, they are there because they may well have cheated ?

ines geipel, i thank you very much for being on hardtalk. hello there. july has started on a dry note for most of us, certainly a far cry from the weather we had for at least some ofjune. the met office has now released provisional rainfall statistics for the month ofjune. where you see the darker blue colours on the chart, well, those areas had around double the amount of rainfall

they would normally expect during the month as a whole. but as we look ahead to the rest of this week, well, it stays dry for many of us. just a little bit of rain around across the north of the uk. now, we start off wednesday morning on a rather chilly note, some rural spots in scotland and wales down around two or three degrees, towns and cities not quite as cool as that. but, as we go through the day, most of us will see some sunshine. some patchy cloud lingering for east anglia and the south—east, but further west across england and wales, probably more sunshine than we had during tuesday. there will be more cloud into northern ireland and scotland. some rain in the far north, where it will also be quite windy. winds also picking up close to the english channel coasts and the channel islands, but in the best of the sunshine through the afternoon, temperatures topping out at 21 or 22 degrees. so it is another promising day in prospect at wimbledon. there will be patchy cloud around, often fairly large amounts of cloud, i think, but some spells of sunshine breaking through. those temperatures up to 22 degrees in the gentle north—easterly breeze, and it's a fine end to the day across most parts of the uk. as we go through the night, it stays predominantly dry,

with clear spells. always more cloud toppling into northern ireland and scotland, some rain in the northern and western isles, and not such a cool night — temperatures between 9—12 degrees. so we go on into thursday. the further south you are, that's where we'll see the best of the sunshine. more cloud for the far north of england, northern ireland and scotland, and rain making a bit more progress across the northern half of scotland. some particularly heavy bursts of rain for the western highlands, breezy here as well, and temperatures across scotland between 14—16 degrees. but further south, 25 or 26 degrees looks likely towards the south—eastern corner. now, another warm day to come in the south on friday, with some sunshine. but that cloud in the north will make a bit more progress southwards through scotland, northern england, northern ireland, taking a band of rain with it. and that band of rain is associated with a weather front, a cold front, which will continue to journey southwards as we head into the start of the weekend,

and that opens the door to some cooler air spreading its way down from the north. so temperatures dipping away for all of us as we head towards the weekend, but it looks like staying predominantly dry. that's all from me for now.

this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: two women are among those chosen by eu leaders to hold the union's topjobs — they're now facing a confirmation vote in the bloc‘s parliament. an investigation by us government inspectors warns of dangerous overcrowding at immigration detention centres in texas near the southern border. a total eclipse of the sun. parts of northern chile are plunged into darkness as the moon moves in front of our star. mind the gap! are trump's global trade wars narrowing america's deficit with the rest of the world?