In Germany an 80-year-old former Stasi officer was sentenced to 10 years for a murder half a century ago
Kyiv • UNN
An 80-year-old former Stasi officer has been convicted in Berlin for the murder of a Pole on the GDR border in 1974. The pensioner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting a 38-year-old man who was trying to flee to the West.
In Germany, an 80-year-old former officer of the Stasi , the secret police of East Germany, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a murder half a century ago. This decision was made today by the Berlin Land Court, UNN writes with reference to Bild.
Details
Manfred N., a pensioner, was accused of shooting 38-year-old Pole Czesław Kukuczka, who was trying to escape to the West, on the border of East and West Berlin in 1974. A 31-year-old Stasi lieutenant shot him in the back when he had already received a stamp in his passport and was leaving the GDR for Germany. In recent years, the man had been living quietly in a private house near Leipzig, the newspaper notes.
The children and the sister of the victim acted as collaborators with the German prosecutor's office. The witnesses were schoolchildren from Hesse who were crossing the border and saw the murder at the same time.
The high-profile trial lasted from March 14. The pensioner remained silent until the end.
