German Stasi murder trial 50 years after Berlin Wall shooting - BBC News

A former member of the secret police in East Germany is accused of shooting a Polish man in the back.

20 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Bundesarchiv/Franke, KlausImage caption, Czeslaw Kukuczka was shot dead from a short distance at the Friedrichstrasse station border crossingBy Damien McGuinnessBBC News, BerlinFor years, the former member of communist East Germany's secret police had been in peaceful retirement in a detached house on the outskirts of Leipzig, tending to his garden.

Now, aged 80, the ex-lieutenant in the Stasi has gone on trial accused of shooting dead a Polish man who tried to flee communism 50 years ago.

Through his lawyer, he denied the charges of murder in court on Thursday.

His name has not been officially confirmed.

But according to prosecutors, while working for the Stasi, he allegedly shot Czeslaw Kukuczka in the back as he tried to cross from East Berlin to the West.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68562698

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