Apparently it was a coordinated killing. This makes it notable because it means an officer of the Stasi following orders has been convicted of a crime.

On the day he died, Kukuczka had gone to the Polish embassy in East Berlin and threatened to detonate a dummy bomb unless he was granted passage to the West, according to recent historical research.

Embassy staff are believed to have approved Kukuczka’s request while alerting East German authorities to the threat.

Stasi officials handed Kukuczka an exit visa and led him to the crossing where Naumann was waiting, concealed behind a screen, according to prosecutors.

Archival documents suggest the secret police were under orders to “render harmless” the Pole, a common euphemism found in Stasi documents for the liquidation of political opponents.

Nauman shot Kukuczka to death in an ambush. And now, at 80 years old, Nauman has been jailed for ten years.