Ex-Stasi officer sentenced to 10 years for 1974 murder in Berlin

A former East German secret police officer, Martin Naumann, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the 1974 murder of Polish man Czeslaw Kukuczka. Naumann, now 80, shot Kukuczka in the back at Friedrichstrasse station as he attempted to flee to West Berlin. Kukuczka had entered the Polish embassy claiming to carry a bomb and demanded to leave for West Germany. After receiving an exit visa, he was shot before reaching the West Berlin platform. The case remained largely unknown until recent investigations uncovered details. Prosecutors charged Naumann in 2023 after a European arrest warrant was issued by Poland in 2021. The trial is considered historically significant in Germany, similar to trials of Holocaust perpetrators. Naumann has maintained his innocence.