Jewish community in Halle appalled by the taking of hostages

Created: 2022-12-13Updated: 2022-12-13, 5:08 p.m

Wall and gate of the Burg correctional facility in Saxony-Anhalt.

© Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa

The Jewish community in Halle reacted with horror to the kidnapping by the assassin from Halle in the JVA Burg.

"That scared us a lot," said the chairman of the community, Max Privorozki, of the German Press Agency on Tuesday.

The assassin did not try to escape from a prison for the first time.

"It is not clear to us how this is possible," said Privorotsky.

Burg/Magdeburg/Halle – You have to wait and see what the Ministry of Justice says.

"I'm excited to see what comes out," said the community leader, with a view to the investigation.

"This man can kill without any problems," said Privorozki about the Halle assassin Stephan Balliet.

The hostages were accordingly "very, very close to death," just like the community members in the attack on the fully occupied synagogue of the Jewish community on October 9, 2019 in Halle.

Balliet had taken two staff hostage on Monday evening in order to escape from the prison.

The two men were not injured on the outside.

Balliet was sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequent preventive detention on December 21, 2020.

He is serving his sentence in Burg prison.

It is the largest and most modern high-security prison in Saxony-Anhalt.

In 2020 he was already trying to escape from prison in Halle.

dpa