A former officer of the Ministry of State Security (Stasi) of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of a Pole who tried to escape to West Germany over the Berlin Wall before 50 years, reports Reuters, quoted by Focus.
In March 1974, then 30-year-old Martin Manfred N. shot 38-year-old Polish citizen Czeslaw Kukuchka in the back. Kukuchka tried to force officials of the Polish embassy in East Berlin to let him go to the West by threatening them with a fake explosive device.
The Polish citizen was admitted to the Berlin Wall and was already crossing the border crossing between East and West Berlin when he was shot in the back at close range in broad daylight. Instead of being taken to the nearest hospital, he was transported to the Stasi prison hospital, where he was left to bleed to death.
On Monday, a German court ruled that the accused acted on the orders of his superiors, but that his actions could not be justified under either West or East German law.
According to the court, Martin Manfred N. was awarded a medal for "neutralization" of Kukučka a few weeks after the murder.