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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kate Connolly in Berlin

Former Stasi officer jailed for 10 years over 1974 Berlin border shooting

A newspaper stand in front of the Friedrichstraße border crossing in 1974
A newspaper stand in front of the Friedrichstraße border crossing in 1974. An estimated 140 people or more were killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall, which divided the city between 1961 and 1989. Photograph: Ullstein Bild/Getty Images

A former officer in the East German secret police has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for the murder of a Polish firefighter at a Berlin border crossing 50 years ago.

Martin Naumann, now 80, shot Czesław Kukuczka in the back at close range on 29 March 1974 as Kukuczka walked towards the last in a series of control posts at a transit area in the divided city, having been told he had a free pass to escape to West Berlin.

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