An 80-year-old ex-Stasi officer was sentenced to 10 years for a Cold War-era murder on Monday.
Martin Naumann shot 38-year-old Polish citizen Czesław Kukuczka at a border crossing in Berlin, 50 years ago, a state court has ruled.
At least 140 people died trying to escape West by crossing the Berlin Wall from the East in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The city was at that time divided into East Berlin, then controlled by the Soviets, and West Berlin, which was allied to NATO.
The Berlin state court said in its ruling on Monday that there was no doubt that Kukuczka was shot in an ambush by Naumann on March 29, 1974 on behalf of the East German secret police, German news agency dpa reported.
The defendant stands in front of the district court and covers his face before the verdict is announced in the trial against the ex-Stasi employee for murder of a Polish citizen at the former Berlin-Friedrichstraße border crossing in 1974, in Berlin, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa/AP
“It was not the act of an individual for personal reasons, but planned and mercilessly executed by the Stasi,” presiding judge Bernd Miczajka said.
The then-first lieutenant fired the shot “at the end of a chain of command,” dpa reported.
This is the first time a former Stasi officer has been found guilty of murder.
Under German law, media outlets in the country are not permitted to identify the defendant, and The Associated Press has not done so.
However, outlets including the Washington Post and France24 have named him, and Newsweek is also choosing to do so.
The trial took more than six months, during which Naumann listened intently and took notes, but did not speak.
His lawyer said that her client denied the allegations.
The Berlin public prosecutor had requested a prison term of 12 years, while the defense lawyer had demanded an acquittal.
Defense lawyer Andrea Liebscher argued that it had not been proven that her client fired the fatal shot, dpa reported.
The verdict can still be appealed.
Father-of-three Kukuczka allegedly took a fake bomb to the Polish Embassy to threaten officials to allow him to leave for West Berlin on March 29 1974.
Stasi Archives show that Kukuczka was bluffing and did not have a bomb.
The Stasi decided to pretend it was authorizing his departure.
Kukuczka was provided with exit documents and accompanied to a border crossing at the Friedrichstrasse railway station in East Berlin, according to prosecutors.
Naumann, aged 31, was told to render the Kukuczka “harmless,” prosecutors said.
After he passed the final checkpoint, the suspect allegedly shot him in the back from a hiding place.
The shooting was witnessed by several schoolgirls waiting in line at the border crossing.
The murder was covered up and the identity of the shooter was not known until 2016 when details emerged from Stasi archived, dpa reported.
Records from the archive showed that Naumann and 11 other men received medals for their “prudent, courageous and decisive actions, and their exemplary fulfillment of their duties in successfully averting a terrorist attack.”
A separate document said that Naumann had “carried out this task carefully, courageously and resolutely and was able to neutralize the terrorist by using a firearm.”
Investigators initially thought the case would amount to manslaughter, which falls under the statute of limitations in Germany.
But prosecutors argued the required murder criterion of “malice” was met.
Murder does not fall under the statute of limitations in Germany,
The trial was considered of such historical significance that the trial was recorded and will be available to the state archives.
“It is more than the conviction of an individual perpetrator. It is a conviction, a guilty verdict against the Ministry for State Security [Stasi] for joint murder,” said Hans-Juergen Foerster, the lawyer to the Kukuczka family.
“It is also a guilty verdict against the GDR government, which had such a Secret Service.”
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press
