A former Stasi officer went on trial in Germany Thursday for shooting a Polish man who attempted to flee to West Berlin almost 50 years ago.

The Stasi was the state security authority of communist former East Germany, known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

The suspect could face a life sentence if convicted.

What are the charges against the former Stasi officer?

The 80-year-old defendant is accused of murdering Czeslaw Kukuczka at a border crossing in Berlin.

At least 140 people were killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989.

Kukuczka was killed on March 9, 1974, at the Friedrichstrasse train station in East Berlin.

Earlier on the same day, Kukuczka was said to have gone to the Polish Embassy with a fake bomb, which he threatened to detonate if he was not given passage to West Berlin.

According to research by historians Hans-Hermann Hertle and Filip Ganczak, the Polish Embassy alerted Stasi officers to Kukuczka's plan.

Stasi officials were said to have led Kukuczka to believe he would be allowed to leave the country, escorting him to a border crossing at the Friedrichstrasse train station. He was then shot in the back "from a hiding place" as he was making his way through the crossing.

Historians have said officers were under orders to render the fugitive Pole "harmless."

Suspect charged with murder rather than manslaughter

Border guards and other East German officials who have faced trial so far have usually been charged with manslaughter.

A lawyer for the victim's family, Hans-Jürgen Förster, said he pressed authorities to bring murder charges in the case, citing an order from Erich Mielke, who was the head of the Stasi at the time.

In the case of the killing of Czeslaw Kukuczka, a manslaughter conviction would be impossible as the statute of limitations has already run out.

The former Stasi employee was charged with murder in October 2023, two years after Poland issued a European arrest warrant in the case.

sdi/sms (AFP, dpa)

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