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  5. Ex-Stasi Officer Convicted of 1974 Berlin Border Shooting, Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison

Ex-Stasi Officer Convicted of 1974 Berlin Border Shooting, Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison

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A former East German Stasi officer, Martin Manfred Naumann, has been convicted of murder for a 1974 shooting. The victim, Czeslaw Kukuczka, was a 38-year-old Polish man who was attempting to flee to West Germany. Naumann, now 80, was found guilty by the Berlin court and sentenced to 10 years in jail. The case was significant as it marked the first time a former Stasi officer had been convicted of a murder committed on duty. The court found that Naumann shot Kukuczka in the back at close range, and the evidence showed that he was the gunman. The case was reopened after the Stasi's files relating to the case were shredded, and the truth about Kukuczka's death remained unknown for decades. The verdict was handed down by Judge Bernd Miczajka, who stated that Naumann did not commit the crime for personal reasons.

  1. DE
    Hans-Juergen Foerster
    1. It is more than the conviction of an individual perpetrator. It is a conviction, a guilty verdict against the Ministry for State Security for joint murder.
    2. It is also a guilty verdict against the GDR government, which had such a secret service.
  2. DE
    Katja Hoyer
    1. It's legally difficult because you have to prove in each individual case that somebody intentionally wanted to murder somebody else. Or at the very least, callously risked the fact that the person might get killed.
  3. PL
    Filip Gańczak
    1. It shows that even so many years after the Fall of the Wall, judicial processing of communist rule in the GDR and perhaps in the Eastern Bloc as a whole is still possible.
    2. Whilst the Polish side wanted it to look like Kukuczka had taken his own life, the GDR was not in agreement … According to a shortened version of events they prepared, there had been an incident at the border crossing, which had resulted in Kukuczka being killed. The family was not allowed to ask further questions.

sources

  1. 1.France 24
  2. 2.South China Morning Post
  3. 3.The Guardian
  4. 4.BBC
  5. 5.The Washington Post
  6. 6.Agence France-Presse
  7. 7.Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland

perspectives

  1. 1.Crimes
  2. 2.Homicide
  3. 3.History
  4. 4.German reunification
  5. 5.Germany-Poland Relations

countries

  1. 1.GermanyDE
  2. 2.FranceFR
  3. 3.United KingdomGB
  4. 4.PolandPL
  5. 5.United StatesUS

organizations

  1. 1.Public Prosecutor's OfficeDE

persons

  1. 1.Czeslaw Kukuczka
  2. 2.Bernd Miczajka
  3. 3.Martin Naumann
  4. 4.Ferdinand Schuster
  5. 5.Andrea Liebscher
  6. 6.Daniela Muenkel
  7. 7.Erich Mielke
  8. 8.Filip GańczakPL
  9. 9.Hans-Hermann Hertle
  10. 10.Hans-Juergen FoersterDE
  11. 11.Katja HoyerDE
  12. 12.Stefan Appelius

technicals

  1. 1.Stasi
  2. 2.Berlin Wall
  3. 3.Nazism
  4. 4.Nord Stream 2
  5. 5.Baltic Sea
  6. 6.Beyond the Wall
  7. 7.Cold War
  8. 8.Holocaust
  9. 9.Iron Curtain
  10. 10.Palace Of Tears
  11. 11.Prosecution of GDR Injustice
  12. 12.Soviet Union
Ex-Stasi Officer Convicted of 1974 Berlin Border Shooting, Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison