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Judicial officers remove the handcuffs from the defendant Stephan Balliet in the courtroom of the Magdeburg regional court © Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa
They knew who they had to deal with every day in prison: the Halle assassin, who once built his own weapons.
Two prison officers now report how they became his hostages in prison.
The crime still doesn't let her go today.
Magdeburg - In the trial against the Halle attacker for taking hostages in the prison in Burg, two law enforcement officers reported what happened.
“I was scared to death,” said a 26-year-old officer in the Magdeburg regional court on Monday.
He described how the defendant was dressed warmly and standing in the cell door with what was supposed to be a weapon held at waist height when he was about to be locked in for the night.
The 32-year-old said he wanted to get out now.
He triggered the alarm and brought the prisoner to the free time yard, said the prison officer.
A shot was also fired.
Another officer also reported fear of death.
The Halle attacker's attempt to escape failed.
Because Stephan Balliet, who has already been sentenced to the maximum sentence, is considered an extreme security risk, the trial is taking place under special security precautions.
The responsible regional court in Stendal hears the case in the largest courtroom in Saxony-Anhalt in Magdeburg.
The spectator area is separated by safety glass.
During the trial, masked special judicial officers in full protective equipment sat behind the defendant.
The Naumburg Public Prosecutor's Office has charged Stephan Balliet with taking hostages and violating the weapons law.
The defendant appeared on the second day of the trial with a black eye.
According to his defense attorney, this was due to an accident.
He followed the witness statements with apparent interest.
At the start of the trial on Thursday last week, the 32-year-old confessed to the hostage-taking on December 12, 2022.
His goal was to be free.
He described in detail how he built a shooting device out of writing materials and used it to threaten prison officials and force them to open various doors for him.
The defendant explained in court that he wanted freedom.
The 32-year-old said he assumed his homemade weapon was deadly.
According to a report by the Federal Criminal Police Office, the device was similar to a weapon and capable of firing, although with comparatively low impact energy.
The prison staff didn't know that on the day of the crime.
The 26-year-old prison officer explained that he was on sick leave and was receiving psychological treatment.
He had many dreams in which the defendant appeared.
"I'm afraid that this could happen again and that I'll leave my family completely alone and that I won't be able to get home." A 40-year-old, who was also a hostage, reported significant mental and physical problems, he had panic attacks and was suffering suffers from insomnia and his physical performance is limited.
Both officers are currently no longer on active duty.
You appear as co-plaintiffs in the process.
The older prison officer already knew the defendant from Halle Prison, where Balliet once attempted to escape.
He was relatively inconspicuous in Burg prison on the day of the crime.
The officer described how the alarm went off around 9 p.m.
Shortly before, he had wondered why the cell door was still open and two people went through another door.
He and several colleagues followed both of them towards the free hours yard.
It then became clear that the defendant had a weapon, said the 40-year-old.
“I just knew he had a gun and he would shoot.” Balliet kept saying he wanted to get out, he became increasingly hectic and nervous, constantly on the move.
The defendant also counted down.
The officer told the court that he assured the hostage-taker that he could not open the gate even if he wanted to, according to the law enforcement official.
The two officials appear as co-plaintiffs in the trial.
Balliet was sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequent preventive detention in December 2020 for the racist and anti-Semitic attack in Halle.
On October 9, 2019, the highest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, he tried to storm the synagogue in Halle and cause a massacre.
When he failed, he murdered two people near the synagogue.
The presiding judge gave the defendant the opportunity to comment on Monday after the former hostages had been questioned - he declined.
There were no signs of regret or remorse.
Next Wednesday, two more witnesses and a psychiatric expert will be heard, as the presiding judge announced.
She promised the end of the taking of evidence.
The next hearing date would be February 19th.
Negotiations were originally planned to last until the end of February.
dpa