Berlin, Germany – A former Stasi lieutenant, aged 80, is set to stand trial for murder on Thursday in connection with the 1974 fatal shooting of Czesław Kukuczka, a Polish man, at Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse train station. The prosecution alleges that the defendant killed Kukuczka with a targeted shot to the back as he attempted to cross the border into West Berlin, as stated in the indictment.
According to reports, Stasi officials had permitted Kukuczka to leave the country and escorted him to the border crossing at the railway station. Despite this, as Kukuczka crossed the border checkpoint on March 29, he was fatally shot.
Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, several former East German officials were prosecuted for killings related to escape attempts from the country. Historian Gerhard Sälter notes that this case marks the first prosecution in two decades in which an East German official is being accused of murder for an incident at the former border.
The investigation into Kukuczka’s death was reignited in 2016 after the Stasi archives revealed the identity of the suspected shooter. Speaking on behalf of the victim’s family, lawyer Hans-Jürgen Förster pushed for murder charges based on an order allegedly signed by former Stasi leader Erich Mielke.
The defendant, so far, has made no public statements regarding the allegations against him. The trial proceedings are expected to extend until May 23 as the case continues to unfold.