A former member of communist East Germany’s Stasi secret police has been charged with murder, for allegedly killing a man who had been let through the Berlin Wall in 1974.
Prosecutors say that on 29 March 1974 the 38-year-old victim entered the Polish embassy in East Berlin carrying a fake bomb and demanded that officials let him cross the border into West Germany.
The Stasi allegedly gave the man permission to cross, but at the same time told the hitman to eliminate him.
After being taken to a crossing point at Friedrichstrasse railway station, the man was allowed to pass through security checkpoints before being “killed with a targeted shot in the back from a hiding place”, the prosecutors said.
East Germans were forbidden from crossing the Berlin Wall, which was constructed in 1961 to prevent people fleeing to the West.
It stood until 1989, when it was dramatically torn down after border guards were unintentionally given the order to allow people to cross.
The original article contains 282 words, the summary contains 164 words. Saved 42%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A former member of communist East Germany’s Stasi secret police has been charged with murder, for allegedly killing a man who had been let through the Berlin Wall in 1974.
Prosecutors say that on 29 March 1974 the 38-year-old victim entered the Polish embassy in East Berlin carrying a fake bomb and demanded that officials let him cross the border into West Germany.
The Stasi allegedly gave the man permission to cross, but at the same time told the hitman to eliminate him.
After being taken to a crossing point at Friedrichstrasse railway station, the man was allowed to pass through security checkpoints before being “killed with a targeted shot in the back from a hiding place”, the prosecutors said.
East Germans were forbidden from crossing the Berlin Wall, which was constructed in 1961 to prevent people fleeing to the West.
It stood until 1989, when it was dramatically torn down after border guards were unintentionally given the order to allow people to cross.
The original article contains 282 words, the summary contains 164 words. Saved 42%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!