Ex-Stasi worker charged with 1974 East Berlin murder
October 12, 2023
Prosecutors on Thursday charged a former employee of the East German secret police with the decades-old murder of a man at the border of East Berlin.
The prosecution is only taking place after evidence arose that the seriousness of the killing meant that it did not expire under Germany's statute of limitations.
What do we know about the case?
The prosecutor's office said it had charged a 79-year-old man from Leipzig with the murder of a Polish man at East Berlin's border crossing in March 1974.
The suspect, then aged 31, is said to have been a member of a Stasi "operational group" at the time of the killing.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the victim had previously entered the Polish Embassy in East Berlin with a dummy bomb in an effort to force his departure to the West.
The Stasi is said to have decided to authorize the man to leave the country.
However, while they gave the man exit documents and even escorted him to the sector crossing, they had also tasked the suspect with "rendering the Pole harmless."
Why were charges filed now?
Initially, it was thought that the crime was an ordinary homicide that did not fulfill the criteria of murder, meaning that it could not be prosecuted after 30 years.
However, prosecutors have now brought the charge of treacherous murder to the Berlin regional court after decisive evidence emerged in Stasi archives.
"When the 38-year-old passed the last checkpoint in the early afternoon, the accused is said to have killed him with a targeted shot in the back from a hiding place," the prosecutor's office said.
The indictment was initially based on East Germany's criminal code at the time of the crime, which even provided for the death penalty in cases of treacherous murder.
However, in accordance with the transitional criminal law provisions after reunification, the suspect could face a life sentence if convicted.
rc/sms (dpa, AP)
While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.